Disney and Universal are the first major Hollywood studios to file copyright infringement lawsuits against AI companies, marking a pivotal moment in the ongoing fight by artists, newspapers and content makers to stop AI firms from using their work as training data.

The battle over the future of AI-generated content escalated on Wednesday as two Hollywood titans sued a fast-growing AI start-up for copyright infringement.

The lawsuit alleges that Midjourney's AI image- and video-generation technologies "blatantly incorporate and copy Disney's and Universal's famous characters," like Yoda, Shrek and Marvel superheroes.

Disney and Universal have filed a lawsuit against Midjourney over artificial intelligence tools that allow users to recreate their characters.