OpenAI has announced it is shutting down its video-generation platform Sora after six months, with CEO Sam Altman reportedly telling staff the company is winding down all video products.
“We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app,” Sora posted to X on Tuesday. “We know this news is disappointing. We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work.”
Launched in September, Sora arrived amid heavy interest as OpenAI tried to enter short-form video popularized by TikTok and Instagram. The app reached 1 million downloads in five days, and analytics firm Sensor Tower estimates about 600,000 downloads last month.
Sora faced criticism over the potential spread of realistic deepfakes. OpenAI has already removed some deepfakes generated on the platform after pressure from celebrities.
Altman told employees the company will wind down products that use video models, including the developer version of Sora and video features inside ChatGPT, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Sora team will reportedly pivot to longer-term projects such as robotics, as OpenAI redirects focus toward productivity tools for businesses and individual users.
In December, Disney signed a three-year licensing agreement to be Sora’s first major content partner, giving users access to more than 200 characters from Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars. A Disney spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal that the deal, which included a planned $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI, will not move forward.
Cointelegraph contacted OpenAI and Disney for comment.
The AI market has been subject to intense hype and is projected to be worth more than $4.8 trillion by 2033, affecting 40% of jobs and emerging as a dominant frontier technology.
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