After a wild few weeks, two Hollywood Reporter editors dissect the tech-entertainment deal of the century.

On December 11, Disney and OpenAI announced a landmark partnership: The entertainment giant, according to CEO Bob Iger, would pay $1 billion to the artificial intelligence power player for an equity stake, while also licensing its Sora tech for short-form video on Disney+ (some 200 animated and live faceless characters).

The three-year deal — exclusive in the first year — changes everything. Suddenly Darth Vader isn’t just a character that you watch — it’s one you create with. And with the deal, Disney+ is set to become not just a platform where you can dial up your favorite shows and movies, but one where you can drop yourself into the action or even rearrange it yourself, all with just a few prompts.

So, is this the future of entertainment or its end? Two of The Hollywood Reporter’s tech-minded senior editors, Julian Sancton and Steven Zeitchik, break it down.

Steven Zeitchik: It’s been about 10 days since Disney went all in on AI memes. On one hand, the world hasn’t ended, so that’s good. On the another hand, the apocalypse never happens overnight. How do you see what Iger and Disney have done?

Julian Sancton: Well, let’s look at the OpenAI side first. This is a big win for them. Sam Altman has been poking around Hollywood for a couple years now and he couldn’t get anyone to bite. And now he’s gotten the biggest bite of all. He somehow comes out ahead — again.

SZ: I mean, it is kind of crazy. All these first-look deals that Runway and other startups have gotten and OpenAI is out in the wilderness. And now they just come in and flex with this billion-dollar deal from the biggest beast in the jungle. Just when you counted them out, they remind us yet again how they dominate.

The Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/bob-iger-disney-openai-sora-ai-video-1236456928/