OpenAI Discontinues Support for Sora, Winds Down Disney Deal

OpenAI plans to discontinue its Sora AI video generator six months after the high-profile launch of a standalone app for the service, as the company works to simplify its portfolio of artificial intelligence products. The ChatGPT maker and Walt Disney Co. are also winding down their partnership, which had centered on Sora, OpenAI said Tuesday. Disney had previously agreed to license iconic characters including Mickey Mouse and Cinderella to OpenAI for use on Sora and to take a $1 billion stake in the startup. The deal was entirely in stock warrants rather than a cash licensing fee, Bloomberg has reported. Bloomberg News AI Reporter Rachel Metz joins Bloomberg Businessweek Daily to discuss. She speaks with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec.  OpenAI plans to discontinue its Sora AI video generator six months after the high-profile launch of a standalone app for the service, as the company works to simplify its portfolio of artificial intelligence products.

The ChatGPT maker and Walt Disney Co. are also winding down their partnership, which had centered on Sora, OpenAI said Tuesday. Disney had previously agreed to license iconic characters including Mickey Mouse and Cinderella to OpenAI for use on Sora and to take a $1 billion stake in the startup. The deal was entirely in stock warrants rather than a cash licensing fee, Bloomberg has reported.

The ChatGPT maker debuted the Sora app in late September with the promise of making it easier for users to generate and share realistic-looking AI videos with each other in a quasi social network. The free app quickly rose to the top of Apple’s App Store, but has since fallen in the rankings.

The move to shutter Sora coincides with a push by OpenAI to streamline its product lineup. The company is developing a desktop application to bring together its ChatGPT chatbot, coding tool and web browser, Bloomberg News has reported. Sora, like other AI video generators, needed a lot more computing power to run.

In a note to staff about the changes, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said the company is focusing its efforts on AI agents and a new artificial intelligence model called Spud, which he expects to be ready in the coming weeks.

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment on Altman’s memo. In a statement about the changes to Sora, the OpenAI spokesperson said: “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 Sora app was powered by a version of OpenAI’s video-making software of the same name. It allowed users to generate short clips in response to text prompts, see videos created by others and remix clips. Some raised concerns about the product’s potential to generate videos of real people and potentially spread misinformation.

In addition to doing away with the standalone app, OpenAI will also shutter the application programming interface that developers use for Sora.

“We’re saying goodbye to Sora,” OpenAI’s Sora account posted on social media Tuesday. “To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.”

The Wall Street Journal was first to report Sora’s discontinuation.

In the staff memo, Altman also said OpenAI will be reorganizing some of its security and safety teams to better integrate that work into the development process and give the CEO more time to focus on raising capital and infrastructure projects.

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