OpenAI discontinues support for Sora and winds down Disney deal
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OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said the company is focusing its efforts on AI agents and a new AI model called Spud.
PHOTO: AFP
- OpenAI will discontinue its Sora AI video generator and standalone app six months after launch to simplify its AI product portfolio.
- OpenAI and Disney are ending their partnership focused on Sora, including Disney licensing characters and taking a stake in OpenAI.
- OpenAI will focus on AI agents, a new AI model called Spud, and integrate security/safety into development, as stated by Sam Altman.
AI generated
SAN FRANCISCO – 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 are also winding down their partnership, which had centred on Sora, OpenAI said on March 24. Disney had previously agreed to license iconic characters, including Mickey Mouse and Cinderella, to OpenAI for use on Sora and to take a US$1 billion (S$1.28 billion) stake in the start-up. 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 one another 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 line-up. 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 Sam Altman said the company is focusing its efforts on AI agents and a new AI model called Spud, which he expects to be ready in the coming weeks.
OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment on Mr 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 on March 24. “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, Mr Altman also said OpenAI will be reorganising 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. BLOOMBERG
