UPDATE 2: Now it’s both sides of the war. Skydance put its own AI commitment in writing on Day One of the merger.
UPDATE: Disney TV is next: the WSJ reports a restructuring expected to cut hundreds of jobs, and a Paramount insider says it’s merger fallout.
Back on June 29, Cosmic Book News insiders said Disney is rebuilding itself around AI, with the goal of pumping out more content while employing fewer people.
Our insiders told us: Disney is restructuring around AI, streamlining production, maximizing content output, and pushing for greater efficiency with fewer workers.
Now Disney’s own top lawyer has put it in writing to his staff.
Deadline reports that Disney Chief Legal and Global Affairs Officer Horacio Gutierrez sent a memo to his department on September 18 warning it “will be a much smaller organization” as Disney moves toward “automating certain workflows by leveraging the latest technologies.”
Per the outlet, the next wave of Disney layoffs could start as early as next week.
What The Disney Memo Says
The memo went to Disney’s Legal and Global Affairs department, which the company calls LGA and which counts fewer than 1,000 members worldwide.
Deadline says the memo has since spread through the rest of the company, with Disney employees worried the same plan applies to their jobs.
“LGA will be a much smaller organization than it is today, and some of you will personally be affected by decisions we make in this process,” Gutierrez writes.
“As a result, we’ll have to consider a whole range of new models for different workloads, including automating certain workflows by leveraging the latest technologies, moving to self-service models where appropriate, engaging alternative legal providers and others, and new expanded share services, even outsourcing,” he continues.
The memo never says AI by name. Deadline notes it strongly implies exactly that, which is what our insiders first told us months ago.
Disney declined to comment when contacted by the outlet.
Disney Hired The Character.AI Boss The Same Day
The memo went out the same day Disney announced Karandeep Anand as its first ever Chief Technology Officer. Anand ran Character.AI, the AI chatbot company, and reports directly to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro.
Just a year ago, Disney hit Character.AI with a cease-and-desist letter for using its characters without permission. Now the company’s CEO is running Disney’s technology.
Gutierrez points to D’Amaro in the memo: “Josh’s vision is of a Disney that succeeds in a changing market by breaking internal walls and embracing technology to amplify what makes it great, not by clinging to the way things always have been done.”
The June Insider Report Keeps Checking Out
Disney already cut jobs in April and again in July, and executives said on the company’s August 5 earnings call that more cuts are on the way.
Disney also rolled out a voluntary early retirement offer for longtime executives in August through Chief People Officer Sonia Coleman. Per Deadline, the window to take it is closing, and involuntary layoffs were always expected to follow.
The content side shows the same squeeze. Disney wiped out Marvel Studios’ visual development team this year, including artist Andy Park, who helped design the look of the MCU’s heroes.
Marvel is cutting back on live-action Disney+ shows after VisionQuest, and Daredevil: Born Again is ending with Season 3 while Marvel let its showrunner walk in the middle of post-production.
Our insiders said the goal is more content out the door with fewer people making it, with AI filling the gap.
Same insiders, same track record. Gutierrez’s memo puts that plan in writing, straight from Disney’s top lawyer.
