⚖️Disney and Universal Sue Midjourney

In the age of digital technology and artificial intelligence, copyright issues are becoming sharper than ever. The recent lawsuit by industry giants — Disney and Universal — against the popular image generator Midjourney is yet another vivid example of how classic ideas about originality and creativity clash with new realities.

What happened?
Disney and Universal accuse Midjourney of copyright infringement — claiming the AI uses content created by real artists and designers without permission in its works. It sounds simple: someone copies, someone suffers — the case goes to court.

But the problem runs much deeper. Midjourney and similar services learn from massive datasets that include millions of images from the internet. These data are the foundation for generating new pictures. Here arises the “bottomless pit of plagiarism”: if the algorithm absorbs someone else’s work, where is the line between inspiration and theft?

The traditional view of creativity
Creativity has always been considered the fruit of unique experience, talent, and human thought. In the good old days, an artist would pick up a brush, mix paints, and create an original masterpiece. Today, AI is like a student who copied too much from notes, producing results based on others’ work without understanding the meaning or having its own “self” 🤖

So why AI at all?
AI is a powerful tool, but not a replacement for humans. It can ease routine tasks, suggest unexpected solutions, but cannot create true art without human oversight and reflection. And this very boundary — where a tool ends and plagiarism begins — is what courts are debating today.

What to expect next?
Legal battles like these will only multiply because technology evolves faster than legislation. And for us humans, the reminder remains: no AI can replace living thought, experience, and the soul of the creator. And, like in the good old days, it’s important to value not just the final result but the path by which it was made.