OpenAI shuts down Sora app amid growing concerns about deepfakes and consent
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OpenAI is shutting down its social media app Sora went viral last year as a place to share short-form videos generated by artificial intelligence, but also raised concern in Hollywood and elsewhere.
OpenAI said in a brief social media message Tuesday that it is “saying goodbye to the Sora app” and that it will soon share details about how to preserve what users have already created on the app.
“What you did to Sora matters and we know this news is disappointing,” it said.
The company behind the chatbot ChatGPIT released Sora in September as an effort to capture attention and potentially claim advertising dollars through short-form videos on TikTok, YouTube or Meta-owned Instagram and Facebook.
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But a growing number of advocacy groups, academics and experts have expressed concern about the dangers of allowing people to create AI videos using whatever prompt comes to mind, leading to the proliferation of non-consensual images and realistic deepfakes – a recording or image that seems real but has been tampered with by AI.
OpenAI was forced to crack down on AI creations of public figures — including Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mister Rogers — but only after protests from the family estate and the actors’ union.
Disney, which struck a deal with OpenAI last year to bring its characters to Sora, said in a statement Tuesday that it respects OpenAI’s “decision to exit the video production business and shift its priorities elsewhere.”
“We appreciate the creative collaboration between our teams and what we’ve learned from it, and we will continue to engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans while responsibly adopting new technologies that respect IP and the rights of creators,” Disney’s statement said.
