Disney and Adobe have agreed a multi-year partnership to develop proprietary generative AI models for the entertainment group, accelerating creative development across its theme parks, film studios and sports media operations.

Announced on Monday, 9 November, the agreement will initially focus on Disney's Experiences division, which includes its theme parks, resorts and cruise lines, and concept development at StudioLAB, the innovation hub within Walt Disney Studios.

The models will be developed through Adobe Firefly Foundry, which enables businesses to build and deploy customised AI systems. Trained on Disney's intellectual property, including its characters, environments and visual styles, they will generate production-ready creative assets and remain private and proprietary to Disney.

Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development has already deployed a custom image-generation model and a sketch-to-image tool that converts hand-drawn concepts into fully rendered artwork for theme park development.

Kyle Laughlin, senior vice president of R&D technology and engineering at Disney, told Reuters that the technology had reduced creative development processes that previously took months to hours or days. He said the tools would allow teams to explore multiple iterations more quickly and reduce expensive changes during the construction of new attractions.

Laughlin added that the technology was intended to accelerate creative development and was "in no way meant to replace" jobs at Imagineering.

The partnership will extend to ESPN, where the companies will explore how AI can improve engagement with sports fans and create new ways to bring the broadcaster's content archive to audiences. Collaboration will take place through ESPN Edge, its innovation centre focused on emerging technologies in sports storytelling.

At StudioLAB, Adobe will work with Disney's creative and technical teams to develop internal workflows and explore new storytelling opportunities. Both organisations said projects involving the two innovation centres were already underway.

Under the agreement, Adobe will provide Disney with early access to its creative and media technologies, including Firefly, Firefly Foundry, Premiere and Photoshop, alongside dedicated engineering and research resources.

The announcement builds on an existing relationship between the companies spanning several decades. The alliance will further include joint marketing activities, industry events and customer storytelling initiatives, with Adobe increasing its presence across Disney's entertainment and sports platforms.

The deal comes as Disney considers further cost reductions. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the company was considering cutting thousands of jobs and had asked some managers to identify annual savings of 20 per cent.

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