Disney is investing in OpenAI by acquiring a $1 billion equity stake, along with warrants for additional shares. Additionally, Disney will grant Sora and ChatGPT Images access to over 200 characters, including branded props like lightsabers, for an initial three-year period.

They are not settling a lawsuit. It’s a business partnership that will enable Sora to generate videos featuring Disney characters, and Disney to employ OpenAI technology for internal film production purposes.

The move is seen as Disney’s boldest bet yet on generative AI, aimed at engaging younger audiences who are increasingly drawn to TikTok and YouTube-style short video formats. Maybe this is a template for future studio–AI partnerships that could either stabilize the ecosystem through explicit licensing or entrench a few big platforms that can afford billion‑dollar checks.

Reactions are sharply divided. Wall Street analysts frame it as a “pre- and post-AI dividing line” in entertainment, positioning Disney with OpenAI in its rivalry with Google. However, the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA have pushed back hard, arguing the deal normalizes a company they accuse of building products on unlicensed creative work and could undermine protections for writers and actors.

Safety experts are concerned about Sora’s track record with deepfakes and sensitive content, especially given Disney’s children-focused catalog. In response to these concerns, Disney and OpenAI emphasize strict guardrails: no real actor likenesses, no explicit or hateful content, and extensive moderation.

Excited by the prospect of legally remixing iconic characters? Worried about low-quality AI slop diluting beloved franchises? Or could such a deal help separate creativity from chaos? Only time will tell. Nevertheless, this is a watershed moment.

Simon Willison:

I’ve started using the term HTML tools to refer to HTML applications that I’ve been building which combine HTML, JavaScript, and CSS in a single file and use them to provide useful functionality. I have built over 150 of these in the past two years, almost all of them written by LLMs. This article presents a collection of useful patterns I’ve discovered along the way.

These so-called “HTML tools” seem like a new generation of DIY digital products. Small software utilities, built with AI-powered standard web technologies, that even non-technical users can build to meet specific needs.

I find them interesting in the context of low-code development, vibe coding, and similar emerging trends, and Willison’s patterns are a valuable starting point.

Proposals, projects, and visions for water management in a changing territory.

This was the theme of “Acqua Intelligente” (Smart Water), the mini-conference I had the pleasure of moderating as part of the Scritture d’Acqua festival.

Featured were several research and innovation projects on water resource management developed at the University of Parma.

We screened a documentary on good water management practices created with the help of Generative AI, produced by students from the Master’s in Journalism program under the coordination of Giorgio Triani (who is also the festival organizer).

With Alberto Bizzarri and Gian Domenico Pedretti, we discussed new water governance strategies in Emilia-Romagna, a region increasingly subject to hydrogeological challenges, with a focus on the possible conversion of under-utilised hydroelectric basins in Val d’Enza.

Susanna Dazzi presented several research projects that are experimenting, with promising results, with the use of AI and deep learning for hydraulic protection of the territory and early warning in case of flooding.

Scritture d’Acqua is an event held annually in Parma. A month of conferences, performances, and convivial moments celebrating water as a fundamental element of human life and the planet, bridging art, literature, and science.

It was my first experience at this festival. Topics somewhat outside my usual scope, but definitely interesting and stimulating from an educational perspective, aligned with my passion for innovation for the common good.

For the first time in my life, I’ve found myself in a classroom these days teaching Word and Excel.

No, it’s not a midlife crisis. My path as a facilitator on generative AI has inevitably led me to Copilot.

Even though Microsoft has been offering it for several months now, in my opinion it’s still far from being a fully mature 1.0 version. Too slow and unstable to meet the widespread expectation (or illusion?) of an “office-ready” AI, where you just press a button and immediately get impeccable results.

However, I believe the path is set. Copilot is the leading candidate to become mass-market AI, thanks to three key factors:

• it’s integrated into the most commonly used software
• Microsoft has a strong presence in the Italian and European markets
• it leverages OpenAI’s advanced technology.

But the scenario I envision for the future is very different from the current one.

I foresee personalized AI dashboards and assistants, perhaps created autonomously by users themselves with no-code tools, aligned with corporate IT ecosystems. Not the faded copy of ChatGPT that Copilot is right now.

Looking at products still in their infancy like Copilot Studio and Power Automate, it seems this is also Microsoft’s vision, but it will take time.

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, recently compared Copilot to Clippy, the infamous paperclip-shaped assistant that plagued Office in the early 2000s. A provocation that also has a commercial motive: Benioff needs to promote his Agentforce. This further reinforces the idea that we’re still at the dawn of a major transformation.

Artificial intelligence for personal productivity is an incoming revolution: let’s prepare for big changes. In the meantime, I asked Midjourney to imagine a future Clippy.

On October 12, 1994, I was one of 150 freshmen sitting in the lecture hall listening to Umberto Eco deliver the inaugural lecture for the Communication Sciences degree program at the University of Bologna.

Three of his phrases in particular have resonated in my mind since that day, more or less like this:

1. “If they ask you what job you’ll do when you grow up, answer that your job doesn’t exist yet. You’ll invent it, and come back here to explain it to us.”

2. “Culture is not knowing all the answers by heart, but knowing how to go look for them.”

3. “The good student isn’t the one who always gets top marks. It’s the one who gets a B+ because they dedicate time to living Bologna — the libraries, the cinemas, the taverns.”

Bonus track: from his voice that day I heard for the first time a mysterious and fascinating word, “internet.”

Last Saturday, a good number of us gathered in Bologna to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary, complete with a cardboard cutout of our Professor. Each with our own lived-in life tucked in our pocket, all with his words still alive in our heads.