Disney making $1 billion investment in OpenAI, will allow characters on Sora AI video generator

[networkpro]

Ok, lets play this out since you guys seem to just want to talk about the stock market.

The bubble bursts in August 2026 (just picked a random date), and it takes a bunch of the AI companies with it, maybe even OpenAI (hard to do because its private, but whatever). And?

Does that mean the AI revolution ends because the bubble burst? No, it just means that sanity returns back to the market but investment continues.
Does that mean Disney gets out of AI because the bubble burst and maybe took OpenAI with it? No, because AI is still a technological advancement and a tool that will be used in all industries including Hollywood. So whether its OpenAI or another AI company Disney will still need to invest in AI.

So the bubble bursting and the stock market fall out from that is completely separate from the technology. Also while the current infrastructure requirements today are greater than past technological advancements, that doesn't mean it'll remain that way forever. A single computer used to fill up an entire room, now it fits in the palm of your hand. A smart phone has more power than the entire Apollo program. Improvements in infrastructure happens alongside the technological advancements. So just because huge data centers are being built now in 2025 to house all the AI infrastructure doesn't mean that same infrastructure capacity will be needed 5, 10 , 15 years from now. Infrastructure shrinkage is almost guaranteed to happen.

We did see that happen in the Telecom spaces where the facilities required to house the switching infrastructure for call connections were reduced from requiring a building with multiple floors to a since rack, but AI hardware is a bit different in how its interconnected but still needs to talk to the outside world to be useful to others.

 

[flynnibus]

AI hardware is a bit different in how its interconnected but still needs to talk to the outside world to be useful to others.

Right now the issue is the rapid demand for 'more' plus the specialized chips. So data center build outs are still going like mad and the AI boom is helping with that. I live basically in the middle of the biggest concentration of data centers in the world - Every new one is bigger and bigger.. they make Ikeas look like a mom and pop hardware store in scale. The change in even the last 10yrs is stark.

But this data center build out was happening anyway.. AI is just accelerating things due to the rapid and well funded demand surge. The network expansion isn't nearly as big because all the dark fiber was largely all here from the DotCom boom. The mid-term issue is as power companies continue to expand to satisfy demand, non-DC customers start to see the utility costs too.. plus the huge demand means real-estate conflicts when data centers are proposed in mixed used areas.

Just like the Dotcom boom.. if all this use goes tits up.. it's infrastructure that eventually gets consumed by the next evolutions in tech.

 

[Disney Irish]

We did see that happen in the Telecom spaces where the facilities required to house the switching infrastructure for call connections were reduced from requiring a building with multiple floors to a since rack, but AI hardware is a bit different in how its interconnected but still needs to talk to the outside world to be useful to others.

Just like the improvements that came in that industry and many others, the same will come with AI as well. And we might as well add Quantum in that too. As research and investment is already underway to merge the two. Chips will shrink, cores will be added, power consumption improves. It’s the nature of technology, and has been since the beginning.

 

[MrPromey]

I live basically in the middle of the biggest concentration of data centers in the world - Every new one is bigger and bigger.. they make Ikeas look like a mom and pop hardware store in scale. The change in even the last 10yrs is stark.

My sympathies.

 

[Kamikaze]

Ok, lets play this out since you guys seem to just want to talk about the stock market.

The bubble bursts in August 2026 (just picked a random date), and it takes a bunch of the AI companies with it, maybe even OpenAI (hard to do because its private, but whatever). And?

Does that mean the AI revolution ends because the bubble burst? No, it just means that sanity returns back to the market but investment continues.
Does that mean Disney gets out of AI because the bubble burst and maybe took OpenAI with it? No, because AI is still a technological advancement and a tool that will be used in all industries including Hollywood. So whether its OpenAI or another AI company Disney will still need to invest in AI.

So the bubble bursting and the stock market fall out from that is completely separate from the technology. Also while the current infrastructure requirements today are greater than past technological advancements, that doesn't mean it'll remain that way forever. A single computer used to fill up an entire room, now it fits in the palm of your hand. A smart phone has more power than the entire Apollo program. Improvements in infrastructure happens alongside the technological advancements. So just because huge data centers are being built now in 2025 to house all the AI infrastructure doesn't mean that same infrastructure capacity will be needed 5, 10 , 15 years from now. Infrastructure shrinkage is almost guaranteed to happen.

Disney invested a billion dollars - and more importantly their IP - in OpenAI. Lets say in your scenario OpenAI does go under and they get sold off (probably in parts). Whoever ends up wit Sora now has the license to use Disney's IP characters and you don't know if they will apply any of the same type of protections to those characters that OpenAI is promising to do. So you can easily end up with those IPs being abused or the new Sora owner creating a paid plan where you can make Mickey do literally anything you want.

 

[Disney Irish]

Disney invested a billion dollars - and more importantly their IP - in OpenAI. Lets say in your scenario OpenAI does go under and they get sold off (probably in parts). Whoever ends up wit Sora now has the license to use Disney's IP characters and you don't know if they will apply any of the same type of protections to those characters that OpenAI is promising to do. So you can easily end up with those IPs being abused or the new Sora owner creating a paid plan where you can make Mickey do literally anything you want.

You don't think Disney has protections put into place in the contracts that prevents that scenario? Its standard legalize especially when dealing with a private company to put in protections for scenarios such as if the company or technology being used gets sold. Also I wouldn't be surprised if the contract didn't have a sunset date on it to ensure things weren't used in perpetuity, like the Uni/Marvel contract.

 

[DCBaker]

Comments from Kevin Mayer on CNBC:

 

[TsWade2]

I guess all the actors, writers, animators, etc will all be replaced by AI! Terrible!

 

[Disstevefan1]

Comments from Kevin Mayer on CNBC:

Iger would say or do anything to drive up the stock price; if he thought peeing on the trading computers would drive up the stock price, he would do it.

When I think of it, his job is to do whatever it takes to drive up the stock price, by any means, be it real or artificial.

 

[Kamikaze]

Just like the improvements that came in that industry and many others, the same will come with AI as well. And we might as well add Quantum in that too. As research and investment is already underway to merge the two. Chips will shrink, cores will be added, power consumption improves. It’s the nature of technology, and has been since the beginning.

Ah yes, because nVidia cards of today call for less power than those of ten years ago. No, its the opposite. They are more powerful and draw more power. The overall requirements will never go down. Only up.

You don't think Disney has protections put into place in the contracts that prevents that scenario? Its standard legalize especially when dealing with a private company to put in protections for scenarios such as if the company or technology being used gets sold. Also I wouldn't be surprised if the contract didn't have a sunset date on it to ensure things weren't used in perpetuity, like the Uni/Marvel contract.

Neither of us have any idea if they do or not. And you're supposing that any 'protection' would be followed. Once they're in the dataset, its near impossible to pull them out. Its the exact reason GRRM is suing about ASOIAF being used in sets.

 

[networkpro]

I guess all the actors, writers, animators, etc will all be replaced by AI! Terrible!

Just most of the supporting staff. Those dull repetitive tasks are well suited to be automated. Problem with that approach is it eliminates those roles from entry level to mid career from organizations which limits the trained replacement availability.

 

[networkpro]

Right now the issue is the rapid demand for 'more' plus the specialized chips. So data center build outs are still going like mad and the AI boom is helping with that. I live basically in the middle of the biggest concentration of data centers in the world - Every new one is bigger and bigger.. they make Ikeas look like a mom and pop hardware store in scale. The change in even the last 10yrs is stark.

But this data center build out was happening anyway.. AI is just accelerating things due to the rapid and well funded demand surge. The network expansion isn't nearly as big because all the dark fiber was largely all here from the DotCom boom. The mid-term issue is as power companies continue to expand to satisfy demand, non-DC customers start to see the utility costs too.. plus the huge demand means real-estate conflicts when data centers are proposed in mixed used areas.

Just like the Dotcom boom.. if all this use goes tits up.. it's infrastructure that eventually gets consumed by the next evolutions in tech.

Point to where the bad DC man touched you
Rank
State
Data Centers
1 Virginia 665
2 Texas 413
3 California 321
4 Illinois 244
5 Ohio 203
6 Arizona 164
7 Georgia 163
8 New York 142
9 Oregon 137

 

[Disney Irish]

Ah yes, because nVidia cards of today call for less power than those of ten years ago. No, its the opposite. They are more powerful and draw more power. The overall requirements will never go down. Only up.

You're making the assumption that technology never improves, which is a false assumption to make.

Also just making a blanket statement that "nVidia cards of today call for more power than those of ten years ago" is an incorrect assessment because you didn't identify which cards. Many of their cards have improved power consumption over similar cards from 10 years ago. So yes as newer card lines come out the initial power requirements may go up, but then they improve over time as newer versions of that card comes out. For example many of the RTX 40-series cards have per-watt improvements over the RTX 30-series cards.

The issue really is not that per-card consumption, its the fact that more cards are being added to handle the increased workloads. That is where the actual increase in power consumption comes from. So as the cards improve in both performance and power consumption and handle more workloads the net benefit is less power consumption overall due to being able to handle the same workloads with less cards.

So again to make the assumption that the technology won't improve requirements is a bad assumption to make. And honestly is borderline fear mongering the technology.

Neither of us have any idea if they do or not. And you're supposing that any 'protection' would be followed. Once they're in the dataset, its near impossible to pull them out. Its the exact reason GRRM is suing about ASOIAF being used in sets.

Reports are that the licensing agreement is only for 3 years. So they obviously have thought about making sure they aren't used in perpetuity. And yes while there is an assumption that they added additional protections for scenarios such as a company or technology being sold, its not an unreasonable assumption to make.

And lawsuits are the response when IP is used incorrectly. Just like Disney has already done with other AI companies like MidJourney and MiniMax.

 

[flynnibus]

Point to where the bad DC man touched you
Rank
State
Data Centers
1 Virginia 665
2 Texas 413
3 California 321
4 Illinois 244
5 Ohio 203
6 Arizona 164
7 Georgia 163
8 New York 142
9 Oregon 137

No bad man… i think they are awesome.

They drive incredible tax revenue because we charge a business use tax on everything inside…
They don’t consume social services or education dollars

My property taxes are awesome because of them . But what i outlined is what the trend is towards as they go from taking up slack to consuming everything. Which is what is happening where byright development is cashing in.

I live in a master planned area… no DC neighbors for me however just 3-4 miles away is a literal center of the internet.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Reports are that the licensing agreement is only for 3 years. So they obviously have thought about making sure they aren't used in perpetuity. And yes while there is an assumption that they added additional protections for scenarios such as a company or technology being sold, its not an unreasonable assumption to make.

That’s quite a lot of faith in someone who isn’t “candid” who is already using a bunch of intellectual property without permission.

 

[Disney Irish]

That’s quite a lot of faith in someone who isn’t “candid” who is already using a bunch of intellectual property without permission.

And that could be, but what do we do just reject it out of a "maybe"? No we have to go based on what is presented, even if a bit of skepticism is involved.

 

[lazyboy97o]

And that could be, but what do we do just reject it out of a "maybe"? No we have to go based on what is presented, even if a bit of skepticism is involved.

That Sam Altman has been lying to his own board isn’t a maybe. That these generative AI companies have been just sucking up things with the hopes of just being too big for consequences by the time the roll around isn’t a maybe.

 

[Disney Irish]

That Sam Altman has been lying to his own board isn’t a maybe. That these generative AI companies have been just sucking up things with the hopes of just being too big for consequences by the time the roll around isn’t a maybe.

I won't comment on the first part. But on the second part, not saying its not possible, but its still a maybe right now. You can assume that it'll happen, and maybe it will, but its still an assumption right now.

 

[networkpro]

No bad man… i think they are awesome.

They drive incredible tax revenue because we charge a business use tax on everything inside…
They don’t consume social services or education dollars

My property taxes are awesome because of them . But what i outlined is what the trend is towards as they go from taking up slack to consuming everything. Which is what is happening where byright development is cashing in.

I live in a master planned area… no DC neighbors for me however just 3-4 miles away is a literal center of the internet.

I use to live in Arlington (Rosslyn to be specific in the Normandy downstairs from Justice Brennan) so I feel your pain. Cousins use to live out in Middleburg until they retired and they snowbird between Winchester, WV and Savannah, GA.