Disney experiments with AI-generated music videos with OpenArt

Disney Music Group is testing OpenArt to create music video concepts based on its songs, starting with “Go the Distance” from Hercules.

The song “Go the Distance,” from the 1997 film Hercules, serves as the starting point for an experiment between Disney Music Group and OpenArt. The American group is testing the creation of music videos generated by artificial intelligence, in which the lyrics, mood, and emotions of a song are used to build visual concepts. The collaboration comes as Disney is simultaneously stepping up legal action against companies specializing in image and video generation.

Announced at Disney Accelerator Demo Day on November 3, 2026, the project is currently aimed at the creation of lyric videos—videos that accompany a song by pairing its lyrics with images or animations. It is not yet a production intended for the public, but rather a new creative exploration tool for the group’s teams. Lyrics turned into visual concepts

According to the partners’ description, the process begins by importing a song into the OpenArt platform. The system analyzes the lyrics, musical atmosphere, and emotional tone to propose an initial storyboard, which the creative teams can then modify, complete, or redirect.

According to information gathered by the Los Angeles Times, the experiment begins with “Go the Distance,” one of the iconic songs from Hercules’ soundtrack. The choice makes it possible to explore new visual representations of an existing work, without necessarily reproducing the animated film’s sequences.

The focus is on the early stages of development. Rather than successively developing several visual directions, the teams can generate different interpretations of a song, compare their artistic directions, and retain the ones that deserve further work. Disney believes that certain concepts could thus be reviewed in a few hours rather than over several weeks.

This estimate remains a company statement. No comparative protocol, production volume, or independent quantified result has been published to measure the time actually saved.

The work of artists remains central to the system presented. The generated concepts serve as a basis for selection and human editing, without Disney yet specifying how far automation could go in the making of a final video. A music catalog as a testing ground

Beyond a single song, the collaboration could extend to other works in Disney’s music catalog. Coco Mao, cofounder and CEO of OpenArt, told the Los Angeles Times that the group was especially interested in the possibility of producing new visual content around older titles.

These videos could feed social platforms and streaming services between major film or music releases. For a catalog that includes several decades of soundtracks, the challenge is to give new audiovisual presence to songs that do not necessarily have contemporary music videos.

Founded in 2022 by Coco Mao and John Qiao, two former Google engineers, the California startup develops a creation platform using different generative models, including Kling, Google Veo, and Seedream. Professional users can choose the tools used according to their needs. The company claims nearly 100 employees and 17 million monthly active users.

The collaboration with Disney Music Group, however, does not specify which models will actually be used for the planned productions. The distribution methods, timeline, and any technical adaptations specific to the Disney catalog have not been detailed. A collaboration in a context of copyright litigation

The announcement comes in a particular context for the entertainment group, which is involved in several lawsuits concerning the unauthorized use of its works by artificial intelligence systems.

In June 2025, Disney and Universal filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, arguing that the image-generation service reproduced protected characters. Another action targeted MiniMax, while a cease-and-desist letter was sent to ByteDance in February 2026 regarding Seedance 2.0.

These steps do not imply a blanket rejection of generative artificial intelligence. Rather, they reflect a distinction between uses covered by a commercial agreement and those that rights holders consider unauthorized exploitation of their works.

The choice of OpenArt fits into this logic of structured collaboration. The platform notably has a tool designed to flag content that may infringe intellectual property rights. Its existence, however, does not constitute an absolute guarantee of compliance, and the exact protection conditions for the works used in the Disney project have not been made public.

The group had already explored a rapprochement with OpenAI around Sora, accompanied by a reported $1 billion investment and a licensing agreement on certain characters. That partnership ultimately did not materialize after Sora was abandoned, with no financial transfer between the companies, according to the Los Angeles Times. An experiment among five Disney Accelerator collaborations

The tests devoted to music videos are part of the twelfth edition of the Disney Accelerator, a program that supports technology companies in developing collaborations with the group’s various divisions.

Over four months, five companies worked with Disney teams on applications related to creation, robotics, and visitor experiences.

In the audiovisual field, Promise presented a hybrid production demonstration, combining the filmed performance of an actor with generated visual environments. On the robotics side, FieldAI is studying applications for parking operations and the navigation of future robotic characters, while Physical Intelligence is exploring the automation of repetitive backstage tasks, including handling 3D glasses between showings.

The fifth company, Simile, is working with Disney Experiences on analyzing visitor behavior and needs in order to improve certain aspects of trip preparation.

The 2026 edition also made it possible to present the results of previous collaborations. The French studio Animaj notably showcased FlipMove, an AI-assisted animation tool now used for the Ozzy Fox series, developed with Disney