Disney and Universal are suing AI photo generation company Midjourney, marking the first major legal showdown between Hollywood studios and an artificial intelligence company.

"Piracy is piracy," says Disney's chief legal officer, as the studios aim to show that tools allowing personalized AI slop creations of characters like Darth Vader or Shrek run afoul of their IP.

Disney and Universal sued Midjourney, alleging that the artificial-intelligence company’s image-generating service produces unauthorized copies of the studios’ copyrighted works.