OpenAI bids ‘goodbye’ to Sora months after launch of viral AI video generation service — what's behind the move?

ChatGPT maker OpenAI on Wednesday abruptly announced that it would be shutting down its AI video generator Sora, six months after the launch of its stand-alone app for creating hyper-realistic AI videos.

"To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you," the Sora team wrote in a post on X, adding, “What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.”

The Sora team, however, did not specify the exact date the app would cease to function. OpenAI also said that it would share guidelines with users on how to preserve their work.

"We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work," the Sora team said.

Days after its release, the Sora app quickly reached the number 1 spot at the top of the Apple store, and despite criticism about users creating violent and racist videos, Sora continued to remain popular.

Further, OpenAI had given no indication that it was working to shut down the AI video generation platform: a day before the Sora's shutdown was announced, OpenAI shared a blog post titled 'Creating with Sora safely', which outlined the ways in which the company had been working to make the app safer to use for teens, with strict guardrails against harmful or problematic content.

Months ago, OpenAI and Disney also signed a three-year deal that would allow Sora users to create videos using more than 200 licensed Disney characters, including those from popular franchises by Marvel, Pixar, and even Star Wars.

Following OpenAI's announcement on Wednesday, a Disney spokesperson told The Guardian that the company would be ending its partnership with Sam Altman's firm.

“As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

OpenAI is currently developing a desktop application to bring together its ChatGPT chatbot, coding tool and web browser, Bloomberg reported, adding that the computationally-intensive nature of Sora could be behind the move.

“As we focus and compute demand grows, the Sora research team continues to focus on world simulation research to advance robotics that will help people solve real-world, physical tasks,” the publication quoted an OpenAI spokesperson as saying.