Disney+ subscribers could soon be getting “game-like features” in the not too distant future, and it has artificial intelligence (AI) to thank, according to Bob Iger.
The media giant is also looking to use AI to create “a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user generated content and to consume user generated content,” Iger said. (He had sounded similar notes in a recent announcement of a deal with kids media outfit Pocket.watch.)
Iger was effusive on Thursday morning’s quarterly earnings call about the opportunities afforded by AI on Disney+ and its potential to help connect up different segments of the sprawling Mouse House.
Since splashing out on an equity stake in Fortnite owner Epic Games for $1.5B last year, Iger said the opportunity is now there to “integrate game-like features into Disney+,” which would directly challenge streaming rival Netflix – a business that has leant hard into gaming of late.
Sensitivities around AI remain, and the company was swift to opt out of OpenAI’s Sora 2 video model, which saw a host of recognizable properties mashed up online to the dismay of copyright holders and creatives. Disney is also one of the companies to have filed a lawsuit against AI firm Midjourney, alleging that it trained its models on copyright-protected properties without permission.
Despite those pitfalls, Iger used the forum of the earnings call to evangelize about the transformative potential of tech, something he has done at regular intervals since forming a bond decades ago with Steve Jobs.
“Obviously there is a huge opportunity for games and our investment with Epic Games, well that will largely be an opportunity to integrate game-like features into Disney+,” the CEO said.
Gaming and UGC can tap into AI developments, according to the Disney execs. AI will give Disney “the opportunity to use Disney+ as a portal to all things Disney,” added Iger, citing commerce, theme parks, hotels and cruiseships as all slowly being better integrated with the streamer.
His letter to shareholders floated three prongs of AI: streaming technology, content (post production) and streamlining parks. The controversial tech and its uses has dominated Hollywood chatter of late.
Disney topped streaming expectations in its final quarter of reporting streamer numbers, helping offset a struggling film studio and sluggish ad sales in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter. CFO Hugh Johnston then spoke on CNBC about Disney’s ongoing carriage battle with YouTube TV.
Dade Hayes contributed this report.
