OpenAI discontinues Sora video generation app, Disney pulls out of $1 billion investment deal

The bell has tolled for Sora, OpenAI's video generation tool that once cranked out a very popular clip of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stealing graphics cards from Target. OpenAI announced that it is "saying goodbye" to the tool, less than six months after the launch of Sora 2 appeared to cause significant nervous sweating among Hollywood executives.

"We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app," OpenAI announced via the official Sora account on X. "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. We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work."

A Wall Street Journal report says the end of the Sora app is part of a broader shift that will see the company move away from products that use its video models. A version of Sora for developers is also being discontinued, according to the report, and video functionality in ChatGPT will also no longer be supported. OpenAI is instead looking to focus its effort and resources on productivity tools, such as the desktop "superapp" that will combine ChatGPT, the Codex coding platform, and Atlas web browser.

Sora was tremendously popular when it launched last year, but it also opened the door to some significant copyright headaches thanks to its ability to quickly and easily generate videos featuring properties belonging to other people, all without permissions—such as this one featuring Altman saying "I hope Nintendo doesn't sue us" as various Pokémon frolic in the background.

OpenAI quickly moved to make changes to Sora's handling of copyrighted material shortly after Sora launched. That didn't prevent a demand from several Japanese studios that OpenAI stop using their content without permission, accompanied by a subtle suggestion of bad things ahead if it did not.

Disney, on the other hand, announced a deal to invest $1 billion into OpenAI, and to license its characters for use in Sora's slop. That's now fallen by the wayside, however, as a report by The Hollywood Reporter says Disney has pulled out of that deal following the end of Sora.

"As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere," a Disney rep told the site. "We appreciate the constructive collaboration between our teams and what we learned from it, and we will continue to engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans where they are while responsibly embracing new technologies that respect IP and the rights of creators."