Midjourney wants Hollywood studios to reveal their AI use
Midjourney wants Hollywood studios to reveal how they use artificial intelligence as part of an ongoing copyright lawsuit. In a new court filing, the AI startup is seeking to overturn a judge's limit on discovery and compel Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros. to disclose broader details about their own generative AI practices.
Key Takeaways
- Midjourney is fighting to expand discovery in lawsuits brought by Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros.
- A judge previously limited studio AI disclosure to consumer-facing videos and images only.
- Midjourney argues withheld documents could show studios use similar AI practices behind closed doors.
- The startup also wants every Midjourney prompt and output the studios generated, not just allegedly infringing ones.
- Studios say they want Midjourney to stop copying characters—not to shut down AI technology entirely.
Why does Midjourney want Hollywood studios to reveal their AI usage?
The dispute centers on what documentation the three Hollywood studios must produce during the discovery phase of their lawsuits against Midjourney. According to TechCrunch, Midjourney filed a motion asking the court to overturn an earlier ruling that narrowed the scope of required disclosures.
In that filing, Midjourney argues the limitation "unfairly" lets the studios "cherry-pick only those documents they believe support their market harm claims while depriving Midjourney of documents that would support its defenses." The startup claims the studios are withholding records that would reveal whether, behind closed doors, they are doing exactly what they accuse Midjourney of doing.
What lawsuits led to this discovery fight?
Disney and Universal sued Midjourney for alleged copyright infringement last year, noting that the startup's image-generation models could create images of characters such as Bart Simpson and Darth Vader owned by the studios. A few months later, Warner Bros. sued Midjourney as well.
Those cases form the legal backdrop for the current fight over AI transparency. The studios have said they do not seek to stop AI technology or shut down Midjourney's business. Instead, they want Midjourney to stop copying their movies and TV shows and to stop distributing, publicly displaying, publicly performing, and creating derivative works that include copies of famous characters without authorization.
What did the judge previously rule about AI disclosure?
A judge had already ruled that the studios would have to provide information about their generative AI usage—but only when that usage led to "consumer-facing" videos and images. Midjourney's latest filing seeks to remove that restriction and obtain a wider set of internal records.
Beyond general AI practices, Midjourney also wants the studios to reveal all the prompts they used in Midjourney, as well as the resulting outputs—not just the prompts tied to allegedly infringing images. That request underscores how deeply the two sides disagree about what evidence is fair game in a case that could shape how courts treat AI and copyright.
What happens next in the Midjourney Hollywood case?
The outcome of Midjourney's motion could determine how much visibility AI companies get into plaintiffs' own AI workflows during copyright litigation. For readers tracking how generative tools are reshaping entertainment and law, more coverage is available in our Future Tech & AI Wonders section.
Until the court rules, both sides remain locked in a high-stakes argument: Hollywood studios say Midjourney enables unauthorized use of protected characters, while Midjourney insists the studios should not be able to litigate without revealing their own AI usage in full.