Google has begun blocking Disney-related prompts and content across some of its AI tools following a legal threat from The Walt Disney Company. However, we were able to generate some Disney images using Gemini without issue.
Google AI Blocking Certain Disney Characters
As we covered back in December, following reports from Deadline, The Walt Disney Company sent Google a cease-and-desist letter accusing the company of using Disney’s copyrighted the material in AI training and outputs without authorization.
Disney’s letter made several specific demands of Google and their Gemini AI service, including immediately halting copyright infringement through their generative features and ordering the company to stop training models on Disney properties.
According to an industry source, the letter may have been part of a strategic effort from Disney to rein in AI content from other AI firms and providers ahead of the announcement of their deal with OpenAI, which saw further details shared on the Disney investor call earlier this month.
Regardless of the business incentives behind the cease-and-desist demand, Google appears to have restricted its Gemini service from generating at least some Disney-related content, signaling at least partial compliance with Disney’s demands as the dispute unfolds.
Prompting Google’s Gemini to generate images of certain Disney characters, such as Elsa from Frozen, now results in what is functionally an error message in response:
I can’t generate the image you requested right now due to concerns from third-party content providers. Please edit your prompt and try again.
Interestingly, Deadline reported that they experimented with “prompts involving the likes of Yoda, Iron Man, Frozen’s Elsa, and Winnie-the-Pooh, all of which generated high-quality images.”
WDWNT Tests Disney Prompts with Google Gemini
However, testing this for ourselves, results vary somewhat and there does not appear to be a flat refusal from Gemini to generate certain Disney characters.
Prompts to generate characters such as Elsa, Bambi, Darth Vader, Spider-Man, and Moana have resulted in the “error” as described above.
Prompts to generate more classic Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Donald Duck at Disney parks appear to generate without issue. Above are some examples of Gemini images based on these prompts, which clearly include these characters in distinct Disney settings and official Disney styles.
We can’t say for sure why this change to Gemini policy seems to be selective across Disney imagery – such as allowing for classic characters and parks visuals – but it remains true that other properties in the Disney portfolio (particularly those of acquired brands such as Marvel and Star Wars) appear to be blacklisted when included in generative prompts.
Disney has argued that Google’s AI practices amount to large-scale copyright infringement, particularly when AI tools generate images or videos that replicate Disney characters and intellectual property. Following Disney’s legal action, Google reportedly removed numerous AI-generated videos featuring Disney characters from YouTube and related services.
The conflict is part of a broader copyright battle between major media companies and AI developers over how copyrighted works are used to train and power generative AI systems. Given their deal with OpenAI, however, Disney has signalled an openness to AI content so long as they maintain a hand in its regulation and distribution.
Have you experimented recently with Google’s Gemini and Disney-related imagery? Share your results with us on social media.
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