Disney Plus Will Soon Let You Create AI Magic, Bob Iger Reveals — And Disney Is All In
The House of Mouse says its tech talks are gaining momentum.
Disney wants you making videos inside Disney Plus now. Yes, really. CEO Bob Iger says AI tools are coming to the app so subscribers can create and share their own short videos. Big swing for a company that usually treats its characters like crown jewels under glass.
What Iger actually said
On the companys year-end earnings call, Iger teased that Disney Plus is about to get the biggest overhaul since the service launched in 2019. He framed it as major product-and-tech updates that will make the app more interactive and community-driven.
"AI is going to give us the ability to provide users of Disney Plus with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content and to consume user-generated content - mostly short-form - from others."
This push is tied to new deals with outside tech providers. Iger said Disney has already had productive conversations with companies building generative-AI tools, and the plan is to bolt those features onto Disney Plus in a way that still protects the companys intellectual property.
How that might work (and why it is tricky)
The idea: give fans simple AI tools inside the app to spin up short videos, then let people watch each others creations. The wrinkle: Disney is famously protective of its IP, and letting users play with Mickey or Simba assets on a platform Disney owns raises about a thousand legal and moderation questions. Iger made it clear any rollout will be designed around guarding the brands.
Not Disneys first AI rodeo
This is an evolution of something we already saw: Marvels Secret Invasion used AI-generated imagery in its opening credits and got hammered for it. That controversy didnt scare Disney off the tech, but it clearly informed this next step.
The immediate blowback
Some creators inside the Disney orbit are already done with the idea. Dana Terrace, who created The Owl House for Disney, did not mince words on X/Twitter:
"Unsubscribe from Disney Plus. Pirate Owl House. I dont care. Fuck gen AI."
What we still dont know
- When these tools actually launch, and whether this is a test or a full feature set
- What the creation tools look like - templates, characters, voices, or just style filters
- How Disney will moderate uploads and keep things kid-safe on a family app
- Where the IP lines are: can users touch classic characters like Mickey or The Lion King, or is it all generic assets
- How sharing works - inside the app only, or exportable to social platforms
- Whether any of this ties into creator rewards or if it is purely for fun
Bottom line: expect Disney Plus to start feeling less like a passive streaming service and more like a creation-and-browsing platform with short-form videos. Whether that sounds exciting or like TikTok with mouse ears probably depends on how much you trust Disney to balance shiny new tech with the realities of IP, moderation, and actual taste.