{"id":53126,"date":"2025-11-14T15:53:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/53126\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T15:53:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:53:22","slug":"south-park-addresses-ai-fakes-copyright-with-totoro-and-bluey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/53126\/","title":{"rendered":"‘South Park’ addresses AI fakes, copyright with Totoro and Bluey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cSouth Park\u201d<\/a> is known for pushing the envelope, but the latest episode has been described by fans online as \u201cnightmare fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n

In what is arguably one of the most disturbing episodes of the year, \u201cSouth Park\u201d creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone explore just how easy it is to create artificial intelligence-generated videos \u2014 and how easy it is for some people to fall for them, or to be convinced that real videos are fake.<\/p>\n

The conversation about Wednesday\u2019s episode has largely revolved around President Trump and Vice President JD Vance being depicted having sex. They tell reporters the leaked video of their affair was a fake, created with Sora 2<\/a>, the latest version of OpenAI\u2019s video generator.<\/p>\n

In the same episode, titled \u201cSora Not Sorry,\u201d the children of South Park generate revenge-porn videos using Sora as a means of getting back at each other. Butters creates an explicit video of Red with Santa Claus, and then she creates a similarly explicit video featuring Butters and Totoro, of the Studio Ghibli classic<\/a> \u201cMy Neighbor Totoro.\u201d <\/p>\n

Chaos then ensues as the children make a frenzy of AI-generated videos featuring well-known (and copyright-protected) animated characters. The South Park police force is dumbfounded by the videos, believing they are real. <\/p>\n

Droopy Dog, Rocky, Bullwinkle, Popeye and even the beloved preschool character Bluey are mentioned or make appearances in the episode. Representatives for Studio Ghibli also appear, offering a voice of reason in the madness, saying, \u201cYou cannot just do whatever you want with someone else\u2019s IP.\u201d<\/p>\n

It echoes the real response Studio Ghibli had when Sora 2 emerged, arguing that OpenAI likely used its content and other Japanese art as machine learning data. The Content Overseas Distribution Assn., an anti-piracy organization representing Japanese IP holders, released a letter<\/a> in late October saying the organization believes OpenAI\u2019s actions \u201cmay constitute copyright infringement.\u201d CODA demanded that OpenAI stop using Japanese content for machine learning and requested that the company respond to claims of copyright infringement \u201csincerely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest update to Sora, released at the end of September, is \u201cmore physically accurate, realistic, and more controllable than prior systems,\u201d according to OpenAI<\/a>, and it also features synchronized dialogue and sound effects. <\/p>\n

The company sparked swift backlash as it rolled out the new version because it was operating under a system where intellectual property owners had to opt out of the app, which meant users could create videos featuring popular actors, characters, voices and likenesses until the rights holders made the opt-out request. <\/p>\n

Unauthorized deepfakes of celebrities, dead figures and copyrighted characters began circulating quickly, including videos of Robin Williams, Michael Jackson and Martin Luther King Jr.<\/a> in what the company called \u201cdisrespectful depictions of Dr. King\u2019s image.\u201d OpenAI and King\u2019s estate released a joint statement<\/a> in October saying the app would block the ability to create generations featuring King as the company \u201cstrengthens guardrails for historical figures.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a slew of Hollywood studios and agencies expressed their frustration with this policy, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman wrote in a blog post<\/a> that the AI company will be giving rights holders \u201cmore granular control over generation of characters, similar to the opt-in model for likeness but with additional controls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some studios have expressed interest in the user-generated content space, with Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger<\/a> saying on a recent earnings call that the company was having \u201cproductive conversations\u201d with unnamed AI companies in an effort to reach an agreement that would also \u201creflect our need to protect the IP.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back at South Park Elementary, as the battle of disturbing AI-generated videos heats up, Kyle questions how creating that kind of content, especially with copyrighted characters, is legal. \u201cNothing is sacred, Kyle,\u201d Butters tells him. \u201cAll you can do is fight fire with fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

The episode seems to address Parker and Stone\u2019s own frustrations with their work being replicated, as evidenced by a line from billionaire Peter Thiel<\/a>, who also appears in the episode: \u201cWith Sora 2, I can make the South Park kid do just about anything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSouth Park\u201d is known for pushing the envelope, but the latest episode has been described by fans online…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[6193,1804,4562,33567,33566,33569,48,52,51,33571,18782,47,50,49,3408,33572,33565,6334,33570,33568,5050],"class_list":{"0":"post-53126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-character","9":"tag-company","10":"tag-content","11":"tag-copyright","12":"tag-disturbing-episode","13":"tag-dr-king","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-headlines","16":"tag-la-news","17":"tag-late-october","18":"tag-likeness","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","21":"tag-los-angeles-news","22":"tag-openai","23":"tag-right-holder","24":"tag-sora","25":"tag-south-park","26":"tag-studio-ghibli","27":"tag-totoro","28":"tag-video"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}