Is AI generated content a “bottomless pit of plagiarism”?

The headline quote is from a statement released by Disney and Universal studios as part of the lawsuit against AI image-generator Midjourney. Similarly a lawsuit from Getty Images against Stability AI questions the use of Getty intellectual property to train AI. In this post, we share our perspective on the risks, the opportunities, and what it all means - particularly for our clients in science, pharma, and biotech, where precision and trust are non-negotiable.
At Fusion Animation, a leading medical animation company, we’ve always embraced new software and technology that pushes visual storytelling forward. Over the past year, one shift has come faster and louder than most: the rise of AI-generated images and video. We’ve watched the industry face tough questions about copyright, ethics, and scientific accuracy.

We don’t use any AI-generated content in our videos as we believe in the power of bespoke videos crafted by experts and artists.

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1. A New Era of Creativity - With Legal and Ethical Tensions

AI-generated content is rapidly reshaping how we produce visuals, including in 3D medical animation. It allows artists and studios to generate concept imagery in minutes and test visual ideas without committing days of production time. But with this speed comes new tensions: Who owns this content? What data is it trained on? As a specialist medical animation company, we’re watching the legal landscape closely - not just because of the lawsuits, but because the outcomes will impact how we all work with AI going forward.

2. Getty, Disney, Universal: When Creators Push Back

Some of the most high-profile legal challenges have come from companies like Getty Images, Disney, and Universal. Getty’s case against Stability AI centers on the alleged misuse of millions of copyrighted images in training datasets. Disney and Universal, meanwhile, are pushing back against AI tools that replicate their characters, likenesses, and styles. These cases reflect a broader unease: many traditional content owners fear that their intellectual property is being used to build systems that could eventually replace or replicate them - without consent or compensation.

3. Copyright, Fair Use, and Deepfakes: What’s Really at Stake?

A major legal question is whether training AI on copyrighted material constitutes infringement - or whether it qualifies as fair use. The answer isn’t simple. While training on publicly available content might seem harmless, it raises concerns when AI systems produce results that closely resemble the originals. Deepfakes complicate things further, as they allow creators to mimic people or styles convincingly, often without permission. At Fusion Animation, we avoid using AI in any way that could compromise others’ rights. We believe in using AI as a responsible tool - not a shortcut.

4. Ethical Use and Creative Integrity

Ethics are essential - especially in the world of medical animation, where trust and credibility underpin everything. As a studio, we don’t use AI generated content on any external work. Of course we use AI to automate parts of our planning processes, and to help with editing things like this blog post! And sometimes for early stage idea discussions. However, we believe that the work our clients are paying for should be unique, highly-accurate and created by our skilled team.

5. Scientific Accuracy in Pharma and Biotech: A Non-Negotiable

Our work is in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, where visual storytelling must be accurate, compliant, evidence-based, and regulator-ready. This is where AI tools present unique challenges. While we use AI to brainstorm and prototype faster, we never rely on it for final scientific visuals. Many generative AI models aren’t trained on biomedical datasets, leading to misleading representations - whether it's an incorrect molecule, anatomy, or mechanism of action. That’s why our 3D medical animation work is always grounded in validated data, built bespoke for each video, reviewed by scientific experts, and built with compliance in mind.

6. How We Use AI: Supporting, Not Replacing, Our Creative Process

At Fusion Animation, we use AI to enhance creativity - not to replace it. For us, AI accelerates concept development and early visual exploration, helping our team get to the best ideas faster. We use it for rapid prototyping and look development, but every final visual - especially in our medical animation work - is crafted by artists, checked by scientific advisors, and refined by specialists. AI supports our workflow, but it’s our human team that ensures the work is medically accurate and visually powerful.

7. Policy, Governance, and Staying Ahead of the Curve

As the legal and regulatory frameworks for AI evolve, we’re committed to staying ahead. We follow emerging global standards on copyright, digital rights, and data transparency. Internally, we’ve created our own guidelines for responsible AI use - ones that align with our values as a medical animation company. Our goal is to innovate while protecting client trust, creative originality, and the scientific rigour that our industry demands.

8. Conclusion: Responsible Innovation Is the Way Forward

The lawsuits from Getty, Disney, and Universal signal a turning point in how AI-generated content is viewed by the law. The outcomes will likely influence how datasets are sourced, what counts as infringement, and how creative rights are upheld in the digital age. At Fusion Animation, we welcome this scrutiny. We believe in an AI-enabled future that protects creators, respects intellectual property, and supports accurate, ethical storytelling. That’s especially important in 3D medical animation, where detail and accuracy can’t be compromised.

We’re excited about what AI can do - and even more excited to use it in ways that serve our clients responsibly.

We’re also very relieved that we’re not the ones who need to read the seventy-eight thousand pages of evidence in the Getty v. Stability case.

Explore our 3D medical animation portfolio or get in touch get in touch to learn how we can bring your next scientific story to life - with accuracy, creativity, and innovation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How is AI used in medical animation?
A: At Fusion Animation, we use AI to assist with early-stage concept development, helping us visualize ideas more efficiently. However, every final output - especially for pharma and biotech clients - is crafted and validated by experts to ensure scientific and visual accuracy.

Q: Can AI improve the speed of 3D medical animation production?
A: Yes, AI can accelerate certain parts of the workflow like look development or visual ideation. But our team ensures all final animations are bespoke, medically sound and tailored to your scientific objectives.

Q: What makes Fusion Animation different from other medical animation companies?
A: Fusion Animation is a boutique medical animation studio. Our clients get to work directly with our senior animators and artists. We cap the number of projects we take on each year so we can focus on the ones we’re most passionate about.

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