Disney Forms Dedicated AI, XR Group To Coordinate Company-Wide Adoption

Disney's recently formed Office of Technology Enablement will coordinate the company's exploration, adoption and use of artificial intelligence, AR and VR tech. Engadget reports: It has tapped Jamie Voris, previously the CTO of its Studios Technology division, to oversee the effort. Before joining Disney in 2010, Voris was the chief technology officer at the National Football League. More recently, he led the development of the company's Apple Vision Pro app. Voris will report to Alan Bergman, the co-chairman of Disney Entertainment. Reuters reports the company eventually plans to grow the group to about 100 employees.

"The pace and scope of advances in AI and XR are profound and will continue to impact consumer experiences, creative endeavors, and our business for years to come -- making it critical that Disney explore the exciting opportunities and navigate the potential risks," Bergman wrote in an email Disney shared with Engadget. "The creation of this new group underscores our dedication to doing that and to being a positive force in shaping responsible use and best practices."

A Disney spokesperson told Engadget the Office of Technology Enablement won't take over any existing AI and XR projects at the company. Instead, it will support Disney's other teams, many of which are already working on products that involve those technologies, to ensure their work fits into the company's broader strategic goals. "It is about bringing added focus, alignment, and velocity to those efforts, and about reinforcing our commitment being a positive force in shaping responsible use and best practices," the spokesperson said.

Can you blame them?

[lsllll]

I hate Disney as much as the person next to me, but CEOs are afraid of missing a gold rush, and I can't say I blame them. It's like tossing a torn net in the sea and seeing what you can catch. Buying a torn net for hundreds of millions of dollars is a drop in the bucket for Disney, so why not? The problem is that they're not clearly seeing the net they're buying and acting on instinct.

Re:

[Rinnon]

I hate Disney as much as the person next to me, but CEOs are afraid of missing a gold rush, and I can't say I blame them.

I can. Most people didn't get rich on the gold rush, something like 90% [Citation Needed] of people didn't even turn a profit. If I'm a shareholder, those are not odds I want the CEO chasing.

Re:

[UnknownSoldier]

> and I can't say I blame them.

I can. One could, you know, listen to actual programmers and mathematicians [stephenwolfram.com]

If a CEO doen't know specifically how AI and XR is going to effect their bottom line then they are just going along with the hype. i.e. Yet-another fucking clueless PHB, although in this case the CEO [fandom.com] meme applies.

Throwing Buzzwords around

[Canberra1]

CEO's need to be held to account for one thing: profits - and fired when loosing market share or serial flops. AI is not a great predictor of 'will I pay to watch it'. Since the 1950's there have been 'casting' directors to maximize revenue. These days - Rambo, Clint Eastwood's, Dusk till Dawns would never be made. The Simpsons, Top Gear etc. If you look at the longest running shows - Disney missed that boat. About time they looked at demand. They can start a series called 'ICE' and model it with internal

Re:

[VeryFluffyBunny]

Disney knows the real money's in the merch & if you get 'em young, you've got adults still buying plastic over-priced future landfill decades later. Disney+ is also every negligent parents' favourite babysitter. Disney knows how to make money.

Re:

[arglebargle_xiv]

It's not VR any more, it's XR, so ( VR++ )++. Plain old VR is so five minutes ago, no-one's going to throw money at that any more.

Star Wars

[Samare]

Maybe they want to re-release Star Wars with AI tweaks? https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

I hope Tron 5 happens.

[Flamecation21]

Perhaps now it will not take them over ten years and over 100 million dollars to make a bad sequel to a good movie. I can only hope that this will take power away from the "subvert your expectations" morons by getting movies done before too much meddling happens. Disney embracing AI could be great, and could create movies with new technological adaption like Tron. It could be bad by facilitating the speedy creation of live action adaptions that no one could possibly want. It is very clear that Disney cannot

Disney could start by suing the GenAI giants

[tepples]

Maybe Disney could start by suing image generator providers that have trained their models on images of modern Mickey Mouse. (By "modern" I mean the redesign used from the 1940 film Fantasia through now.) If their legal department is interested, they could shoot an email to Saveri Law Firm, which is representing Adulthood Is a Gift illustrator Sarah Andersen in her suit against Stability AI [imagegener...gation.com].

Is Disney still Relevant?

[nukenerd]

After the train wreck of the woke version of Snow White, I wouldn't have thought so.

"responsible use and best practices"

[VeryFluffyBunny]

Mmm... "responsible use and best practices"... I wonder what they really mean by that? Sounds doubleplusgood!