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DAILY AI BRIEFING FOR EDUCATORS
HigherEd AI
Sunday, December 15, 2025
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Today’s Focus
Disney and OpenAI: A $1 Billion Partnership That Changes Content Creation
Disney and OpenAI announced a landmark three-year partnership this week valued at $1 billion. The deal gives OpenAI users the ability to generate video and images featuring over 200 Disney characters—from Mickey Mouse to Darth Vader—across Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars properties. For the first time, users can create professional video content featuring iconic characters without licensing fees.
This matters for higher education in ways that might not be immediately obvious. Disney and OpenAI are essentially creating an intellectual property licensing model for AI-generated content. The precedent is significant. If Disney can license 200+ characters to users via AI tools, what does this mean for universities licensing academic content, archives, and institutional collections through AI systems?
For educators teaching media studies, communications, or marketing, this becomes a case study in how intellectual property is being reimagined. Students can now create campaigns featuring Disney characters—something that would have required legal departments and licensing agreements years ago. The barrier to entry for professional-quality content creation just dropped dramatically.
Worth considering:
As character and IP licensing become frictionless through AI, how do universities think about licensing their own intellectual property? Should universities develop similar models for student access to institutional archives, historical collections, and research databases through AI interfaces?
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Platform News
Instagram Users Now Control Their Feed Algorithm
Instagram rolled out new algorithm controls this week, allowing users to adjust how their feed is personalized. Users can now fine-tune whether the feed prioritizes recent posts, accounts they follow most, or content related to their interests.
This shift reflects broader pressure for algorithmic transparency. For students and educators using Instagram for learning communities, research communication, or institutional presence, this means more predictability in how content reaches audiences. You can now deliberately shape your feed strategy rather than relying on black-box algorithmic decisions.
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Research Update
Platform Engineering Redefined by AI Integration
Research this week indicates that platform engineering—the infrastructure layer that supports development teams—is being fundamentally reshaped by AI. What was once a competitive advantage is becoming table stakes. Teams without AI-assisted platform engineering fall behind rapidly.
For universities investing in technical infrastructure and cloud systems, this is a budget conversation. As platform engineering becomes AI-native, institutions need to think about how their infrastructure supports or limits faculty and student use of AI tools. Is your institution building platform infrastructure that embraces AI or constraining it?
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A Final Reflection
When intellectual property becomes immediately accessible through AI, does the scarcity that created value disappear, or does it get replaced by something else?
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This newsletter synthesizes developments from TLDR AI, TLDR Design, and primary source documentation. Each edition is curated specifically for higher education professionals.
Visit AskThePhD.com for more resources, daily tool tests, and tutorials for educators.
Dr. Ali Green
Professor & AI in Education Specialist
From the AskThePhD team at HigherEdAI
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