Did OpenAI Kill What Disney’s ‘Super App’ Needs Most?

With all the bells and whistles rumored to be a part of Disney’s “super app” plans, there’s one feature that can be ruled out at this time: the AI magic the company had been conjuring via its recently aborted partnership with OpenAI.

Which begs a question: Will consumers ever be able to create videos that allow them to direct their favorite fictional characters? The Disney-OpenAI collab intended to enable amateur creatives to cast more than 200 characters across the Disney portfolio of beloved icons, from Mickey Mouse to Luke Skywalker, for usage in short videos similar to what it had been doing on its now-shuttered Sora app.

On the latest episode of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast, Jeremy Toeman, senior VP of AI innovation at JWX, draws on his decades working at the bleeding edge of media to sort through the possibilities. He wonders if OpenAI had taken a more curated approach to Sora whether the app would still be in market today.

“I think there is an opportunity here, but it takes a lot of thoughtfulness. It’s not a mass blast approach,” he said.

Toeman walked through the various market conditions necessary to make a product viable in which AI meets IP, including not expecting the functionality to be the sole feature of an entire social platform.

“One thing I definitely believe is Sora as an experiment proved we don’t want slop, we want curation, all the stuff about what makes content good,” he said. “I also wonder if we are just sort of done with new platforms to be on, right?”

Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro shared his vision for evolving Disney+ into what he referred to as a “immersive, interactive digital centerpiece” that brings together everything from theme park tickets to merchandise and much more.

“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. Click here to sign up for our free, weekly “Strictly Business” newsletter. New podcast episodes debut every Friday and can be downloaded at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more.