Want Mickey Mouse on Sora? That doesn’t come free

Bob Iger, you crafty fox. That’s all I could think as I watched the Walt Disney chief executive officer talk about his company’s blockbuster deal with OpenAI to license the use of 200 or so beloved characters to be remixed with the Sora video app. 

Thanks to the power of human creativity – the unmatched genius of Disney’s century of storytelling – he has strong-armed OpenAI into selling a US$1 billion (S$1.29 billion) stake in the company (with possibly more to come), gained a continuing licensing fee for use of Disney characters for at least the next three years and paved the way for more personalised content within the Disney+ streaming service.