A couple of days ago, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Disney+ will soon have AI-generated short-form content from users.

Imagine that.

Being able to make anything (that makes it through Disney’s filtering, which I assume will be strict) using the characters and assets owned by Disney! Mickey Mouse hanging out with Jabba the Hutt, Spider-Man swinging in to stop Captain Barbosa, unlimited content!!

The thing that’s weird to me is that this content will be made by users. Think Sora, but for Disney.

I flat out object to the use of Gen-AI for a lot of reasons. Obviously, when Gen-ai is used for creative endeavors, that’s something that a team of human beings could have done (and gotten paid for), and I could get into the huge issues of removing creative work, but the topic I keep ruminating on is, what’s the point?

I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time now. The idea struck me when an ad for Microsoft Copilot played before a YouTube video.

The ad shows a woman getting ready for a run and asking Copilot to make a dreamy podcast about living on Mars. The podcast plays as she leaves for her run and transports her to the red planet.

Another, more recent example of this kind of ad is from Amazon. FazeRug, a “pro gamer”, is “locking in” for an online match. He asks Alexa to remind him of his winning streak and talks to it like they’re friends. It’s hard to write just how cringey this ad is. Seriously, just watch it for yourself.

The issue with talking with Alexa and asking it to keep track of my “wins”, generating content on Disney+, and generating a podcast is that it misses the entire point of gaming, watching TV, and listening to podcasts.

People don’t listen to podcasts to get information from Wikipedia pages and speculative fiction articles. They listen to podcasts because they like the personalities and conversations they house.

People don’t watch TV so they can see what was generated by their neighbor. I would argue that most adults watch TV to see what happens in a show or to experience a story. Children, however, probably watch TV because their parents just need a single minute to themselves or because they’re bored. (Currently, my daughter is watching Peter Pan because she’s sick)

The only use case I can see AI-gen content on Disney+ is for children, which is a huge shame. Children deserve better.

The video game one is so strange to me. It’s so obvious that people don’t buy smart home products so they can talk to it when they play video games. The guy is even playing an online game and mentions the person he’s playing against… why isn’t he talking to his friend?

The point of podcasts, TV, and games isn’t podcasts, TV, and games. It’s more than that. It’s a human connection, art, and thoughtful storytelling.

Some new tech being the future isn’t a good enough reason to dump billions of dollars into it.

I read about Apple’s approach to AI and how limited it was. Just a couple of months ago, Apple was getting laughed at for being so “far behind” on AI. However, now that it’s taken a much more subdued approach to it, they’re seeing much more success. At least they don’t need to answer questions about how their billions of dollars invested in the tech will pay off.

Why is it that Apple needs to have an answer for AI? Why does Disney need to consider the new technology? And why is it that Microsoft expects people to make podcasts using Copilot?

Gen-AI is being sold as a toy, but in reality, it’s making living more expensive, wastes water, spreads misinformation (no matter how big or small), and sows distrust.

If you’ve asked me about AI in person, you’ve heard this before.

The people saying AI is the next best thing are the people who are the most financially responsible for its success.

Companies have used billions of dollars to invest in the future of AI, and if it doesn’t succeed, that’s a huge problem for them. So they will do whatever they can to make sure it succeeds.