Disney CLO Calls for AI Policies to Protect Creators and Copyrights at Alan S. Becker and Gary A. Poliakoff Preeminent Leaders in Law Speaker Series
March 24, 2025 – Miami, FL — Becker & Poliakoff, in partnership with the University of Miami School of Law, recently welcomed Horacio Gutierrez, Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at The Walt Disney Company, as its keynote speaker of the Alan S. Becker and Gary A. Poliakoff Preeminent Leaders in Law Speaker Series.
Gutierrez called for implementing policies addressing artificial intelligence, emphasizing the urgency of the issue. He opened his speech by stating, “AI threatens to inflict severe harm on American creators due to the misuse of their intellectual property rights. We must act now in this fast-moving AI innovation environment. We don’t have time to repeat the mistakes of the past or delay in addressing the challenges ahead.”
Gutierrez (J.D. ’98) is the Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer of The Walt Disney Company. In this role, Gutierrez serves as the Company’s chief legal officer. Before joining Disney in February 2022, Gutierrez was Head of Global Affairs, Chief Legal Officer for Spotify, and Corporate Vice President and General Counsel for Microsoft.
Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing how content is produced, distributed, and consumed. From AI-generated art and music to scriptwriting and digital animation, emerging technologies are raising critical questions about copyright, intellectual property, ethical considerations, and the balance between innovation and human creativity.
Gutierrez urged regulators to take swift action to avoid repeating past mistakes and another “Napster moment,” warning that without intervention, years of litigation and billions in lost value could occur before the courts can address the issue.
Gutierrez highlighted Walt Disney’s long history of leveraging technology to enhance storytelling but cautioned that “we must commit to an AI innovation model that respects both our nation’s creators and tech innovators.” He emphasized that now, more than ever, the U.S. must lead in setting the gold standard for AI—one that empowers and protects both creators and innovators.
Becker shareholder Jon Polenberg led the Q&A session and asked how to balance AI’s threats and opportunities in the creative industries. “We know it is going to transform every aspect of our lives, including the way people work, medical research, and other aspects of the world,” Gutierrez went on to say, “Disney would like to take advantage of those tools, but the challenge is the misuse of the technology, including creative, ethical, political, fraud, human rights. These are implications and areas that we need to better understand, and I think you’re going to see both litigation as well as regulation in the U.S. and other places.”
You can watch the entire speech and Q & A session here.
The Alan S. Becker and Gary A. Poliakoff Preeminent Leaders in Law Speaker Series, established to honor Becker & Poliakoff’s founding members, Alan S. Becker (J.D. ’69) and Gary A. Poliakoff (J.D. ’69), serves as a platform for legal professionals to share their insights and experiences with the broader community. Held twice a year, the Series aims to bridge the gap between theoretical legal education and practical application by bringing renowned legal minds to share insights on pressing legal and business issues shaping today’s world.
Previous Series speakers include Julissa Reynoso, Former U.S. Ambassador to Spain and Andorra, Florida Supreme Court Justice John D. Couriel, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke.
About Becker
Becker, with headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is a multi-practice commercial law firm with attorneys, lobbyists, and other professionals at offices throughout the East Coast and Europe. More information is available at www.beckerlawyers.com
