VN.ai report finds Midjourney v8.1 the worst of 15 AI models for reproducing copyrighted characters (37% of the time)

What happened

AI-tech startup VN.ai, which stress-tests generative AI models for copyright compliance, released a report examining 15 popular AI models. According to the report, Midjourney v8.1 was the worst offender, reproducing copyright-infringing images some 37% of the time, including depictions of famous characters such as Frozen's Elsa and the Joker. The findings were covered by Deadline (Jake Kanter, Oct 14, 2026) and summarized in Plagiarism Today's Oct 15 roundup.

Why it matters for this database

Midjourney is currently defending a copyright-infringement lawsuit filed by Disney and NBCUniversal, which alleges the company routinely generates images of popular characters in violation of copyright law. The VN.ai report is presented as evidence that Midjourney's behavior has not significantly improved since that suit was filed. Figures above are the startup's own claims as reported; no court has ruled on this report.