Horror scenario:

Big IP holders will go nuclear on IP licensing to an extent we've never seen before.

Right now, there are thousands of images and videos of Star Wars, Pokemon, Superman, Sonic, etc. being posted across social media. All it takes is for the biggest IP conglomerates to turn into linear tv and sports networks of the past and treat social media like cable.

Disney: "Gee {Google,Meta,Reddit,TikTok}, we see you have a lot of Star Wars and Marvel content. We think that's a violation of our rights. If you want your users to continue to be able to post our media, you need to pay us $5B/yr."

I would not be surprised if this happens now that every user on the internet can soon create high-fidelity content.

This could be a new $20-30B/yr business for Disney. Nintendo, WBD, and lots of other giant IP holders could easily follow suit.

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empressplay 6 days ago | parent [-]

Disney invests $1 billion in OpenAI, licenses 200 characters for AI video app Sora

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/12/disney-invests-1-billion-...

	▲	echelon 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		One day later, "Google pulls AI-generated videos of Disney characters from YouTube in response to cease and desist": https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-pulls-ai-generated-videos... The next step is to take this beyond AI generations and to license rights to characters and IP on social media directly. The next salvo will be where YouTube has to take down all major IP-related content if they don't pay a licensing fee. Regardless of how it was created. Movie reviews, fan animations, video game let's plays. I've got a strong feeling that day is coming soon.