Disney Thinks the Future of Their Brand Is AI Slop

Last month, my wife and I went on a Disney Cruise with her side of the family to celebrate her parents’ wedding anniversary. I’d never been on a cruise before, and had never felt much of an urge due to the stories of norovirus outbreaks and other horrors on the high seas. But as my wife pointed out, Disney’s brand was too important to let anything bad happen to its passengers. Cleanliness and efficiency make Disney experiences stand out. You can’t go more than 30 feet without seeing a trash can. The company wants “Disney” to be synonymous with the most pleasant version of America you can imagine.

But they’re also a mega-corporation with an eye on squeezing out as much profit as possible (here’s a good read on their onerous relationships with theater chains). They also want to make sure they’re always entering into any new tech venture, whether they fully understand it or not (which is why so many Disney sites have “Go” in their domains). With that in mind, it's not too surprising that the company has made a three-year deal with OpenAI to let its properties be used in the company’s AI Slop engine, Sora 2. AI gets a badly needed cash infusion of $1 billion (only $179 billion left to go this year, Sam!), and Disney thinks it has a foothold on what the tech industry is deeming the future because if they say it enough times, we all have to believe them. And while believing in fairies may work in Disneyland, it’s probably going to backfire on Disney’s brand.