Disney is seeking a director of AI enablement and legal engineering just one week after employees in its legal and global affairs department were warned that the organization will become “much smaller” as part of a technology-driven overhaul.
The job opening offers a new look at how Disney plans to use artificial intelligence beyond its entertainment productions. The executive will be responsible for redesigning legal workflows with AI systems and introducing other technology solutions for contract review, legal research and regulatory analysis.
The role will also evaluate whether Disney should develop AI systems internally or purchase them from outside vendors, assess the return on those investments and help the company’s lawyers adopt new ways of working.
A warning of “hard choices”
On Sept. 18, chief legal and global affairs officer Horacio Gutierrez told employees that Disney was entering a “transformation process” requiring “hard choices.” He outlined several potential changes, including automating workflows with newer technologies, shifting some functions to self-service models, using alternative legal providers and outsourcing work.
Gutierrez made clear that the restructuring would affect the department’s workforce.
The legal and global affairs operation “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,” he wrote.
Although Gutierrez’s memo did not explicitly refer to AI, the subsequent job posting directly connects the technology to the redesign of legal work. Together, the developments show Disney examining how corporate jobs are organized and performed as it seeks greater efficiency across the company.
Gutierrez said technology is reshaping “how work gets done” and called for “taking a dispassionate look at every aspect of how we do our work, so we can do it in a more efficient and cost-effective manner.”
“Obviously, this will require hard choices about where and how we deploy our resources and investments, including our staffing investments and how we work will look different in the months and years ahead,” he added.
Disney’s wider efficiency drive
The legal department changes are believed to be connected to a broader initiative under CEO Josh D’Amaro to improve operational efficiency through AI.
During a May earnings call, CFO Hugh Johnston described technology as a tool for fundamentally reworking Disney’s operations. His comments came one month after the company laid off roughly 1,000 employees across studio and television units, among other areas.
“We’re using technology to fundamentally change how work gets done,” Johnston said. “We have been and will continue to look for these types of opportunities to redeploy capital, both financial and human, to areas we see driving the highest returns for shareholders.”
Disney reinforced that cost-cutting message in an August earnings letter, saying it remained “highly focused on reducing costs across the enterprise.” The company’s stock is down 5 percent so far this year and nearly 40 percent since 2021.
The push to apply AI to corporate operations comes as adoption in production workflows has faced legal obstacles. Questions involving ownership and copyright have slowed the technology’s use in that area. The new legal-engineering position, however, is specifically designed to introduce AI into functions handled by lawyers and regulatory specialists.
The timing creates a notable contrast: Disney is preparing to shrink its legal and global affairs organization while hiring an executive whose responsibilities include automating and redesigning portions of its work.
Gutierrez framed the transformation as part of D’Amaro’s approach to a changing business environment.
“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,” he wrote.
What Happens Next?
Disney has not detailed the full scope of the coming reductions in its legal and global affairs department. Gutierrez’s memo nevertheless confirms that staffing decisions are part of the transformation and that some employees will be personally affected.
The company is now moving ahead with its search for the AI enablement and legal engineering director as it evaluates which systems to build, which to obtain from vendors and how to measure their financial value. Disney declined to comment.