Disney and Universal sued AI image-generator Midjourney, alleging copyright infringement. They gave side-by-side comparisons as examples.

Walt Disney and Comcast’s NBCUniversal have sued artificial intelligence company Midjourney, accusing the image generator of copying their copyrighted characters without permission. The studios are seeking a preliminary injunction to block Midjourney from using their intellectual property.

Disney and NBCUniversal are going after Midjourney, a generative-AI tool trained on internet data that can be used to make everything from silly memes to short films made entirely of AI slop. The two Hollywood companies filed a lawsuit against the self-funded startup in Federal Court on Tuesday “to stop its theft of their intellectual property.