The AI image generator Midjourney is trying to force three Hollywood studios to open their books on how they use artificial intelligence, according to TechCrunch, which reported on the move as part of an ongoing legal dispute between the two sides.
The details are still thin, but the shape of the fight is clear. Midjourney and the three studios are already locked in litigation. Now, according to TechCrunch, Midjourney is seeking to compel those same studios to reveal the specifics of their own AI usage.
That framing matters. In disputes over generative AI, entertainment companies have typically cast themselves as the parties whose work is being copied or scraped. Midjourney's request flips the lens back onto the studios, pressing them to account for whether and how they lean on AI tools in their own production pipelines.
TechCrunch describes the effort as an attempt to "compel" disclosure, language that points to a formal legal demand rather than a voluntary exchange. Beyond that, the source does not spell out which studios are involved, what claims are at the center of the case, or what Midjourney hopes the disclosures will prove.
Why it matters: as courtrooms become the main venue for sorting out who owns what in the AI era, a company like Midjourney demanding transparency from its accusers signals that the industry's biggest players may soon have to answer the same hard questions they are asking of AI firms.