Disney and Universal are suing artificial intelligence (AI) firm Midjourney over its image generator, which the Hollywood giants allege is a "bottomless pit of plagiarism".
The two studios claim Midjourney's tool makes "innumerable" copies of characters including Darth Vader from Star Wars, Frozen's Elsa, and the Minions from Despicable Me.
It is part of the entertainment industry's ongoing love-hate relationship with AI. Many studios want to make use of the technology but are concerned that their creations could be stolen.
Midjourney's image generator makes images from typed requests or prompts.