'South Park' addresses AI-generated videos and copyright with Totoro, Trump and Bluey

“South Park” is known for pushing the envelope, but the latest episode has been described by fans online as “nightmare fuel.”

In what is arguably one of the most disturbing episodes of the year, “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone explore just how easy it is to create artificial intelligence-generated videos — and how easy it is for some people to fall for them, or to be convinced that real videos are fake.

The conversation about Wednesday’s episode has largely revolved around President Trump and Vice President JD Vance being depicted having sex. They tell reporters the leaked video of their affair was a fake, created with Sora 2, the latest version of OpenAI’s video generator.

In the same episode, titled “Sora Not Sorry,” the children of South Park generate revenge-porn videos using Sora as a means of getting back at each other. Butters creates an explicit video of Red with Santa Claus, and then she creates a similarly explicit video featuring Butters and Totoro, of the Studio Ghibli classic “My Neighbor Totoro.”

Chaos then ensues as the children make a frenzy of AI-generated videos featuring well-known (and copyright-protected) animated characters. The South Park police force is dumbfounded by the videos, believing they are real.

Droopy Dog, Rocky, Bullwinkle, Popeye and even the beloved preschool character Bluey are mentioned or make appearances in the episode. Representatives for Studio Ghibli also appear, offering a voice of reason in the madness, saying, “You cannot just do whatever you want with someone else’s IP.”

It echoes the real response Studio Ghibli had when Sora 2 emerged, arguing that OpenAI likely used its content and other Japanese art as machine learning data. The Content Overseas Distribution Assn., an anti-piracy organization representing Japanese IP holders, released a letter in late October saying the organization believes OpenAI’s actions “may constitute copyright infringement.” CODA demanded that OpenAI stop using Japanese content for machine learning and requested that the company respond to claims of copyright infringement “sincerely.”

The latest update to Sora, released at the end of September, is “more physically accurate, realistic, and more controllable than prior systems,” according to OpenAI, and it also features synchronized dialogue and sound effects.

The company sparked swift backlash as it rolled out the new version because it was operating under a system where intellectual property owners had to opt out of the app, which meant users could create videos featuring popular actors, characters, voices and likenesses until the rights holders made the opt-out request.

Unauthorized deepfakes of celebrities, dead figures and copyrighted characters began circulating quickly, including videos of Robin Williams, Michael Jackson and Martin Luther King Jr. in what the company called “disrespectful depictions of Dr. King’s image.” OpenAI and King’s estate released a joint statement in October saying the app would block the ability to create generations featuring King as the company “strengthens guardrails for historical figures.”

After a slew of Hollywood studios and agencies expressed their frustration with this policy, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman wrote in a blog post that the AI company will be giving rights holders “more granular control over generation of characters, similar to the opt-in model for likeness but with additional controls.”

Some studios have expressed interest in the user-generated content space, with Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger saying on a recent earnings call that the company was having “productive conversations” with unnamed AI companies in an effort to reach an agreement that would also “reflect our need to protect the IP.”

Back at South Park Elementary, as the battle of disturbing AI-generated videos heats up, Kyle questions how creating that kind of content, especially with copyrighted characters, is legal. “Nothing is sacred, Kyle,” Butters tells him. “All you can do is fight fire with fire.”

The episode seems to address Parker and Stone’s own frustrations with their work being replicated, as evidenced by a line from billionaire Peter Thiel, who also appears in the episode: “With Sora 2, I can make the South Park kid do just about anything.”