Warner Bros. Discovery has launched a lawsuit against midjourney, an image-generating artificial intelligence tool, accusing it of copyright infringement by creating content featuring iconic characters like Batman, Superman, and Scooby-Doo without permission. The lawsuit, filed on September 4, 2025, in Los Angeles, alleges that Midjourney, with over 20 million users, was trained using copyrighted material from Warner Bros., DC Comics, and Cartoon Network.
According to the company, Midjourney removed safeguards that previously prevented the generation of protected content, prioritizing profits over ethics and legality. In Africa, where AI adoption is on the rise, the indiscriminate use of AI, as in the case of Midjourney, raises serious concerns.
AI models trained with copyrighted data can generate images, videos, or music that imitate original works without consent, harming local creators, especially in sectors such as film, music, and graphic design.
Warner Bros. join giants like Disney and Universal, which also sued Midjourney, signaling a global confrontation between studios and AI companies. This case reinforces the urgent need for laws that balance innovation and copyright protection. How will this clash evolve in the AI era?
