OpenAI to wind down Sora app; $1B Disney deal shelved

OpenAI announced Tuesday it will wind down Sora, a TikTok-style AI video app introduced six months ago. The company did not provide a reason for the shutdown or a date when the app will stop working. The underlying Sora 2 video and audio generation model remains available to paying subscribers within ChatGPT.

A planned $1 billion investment and licensing arrangement with Disney tied to Sora has been shelved, and no funds were transferred. Disney noted it would “continue to engage with AI platforms” in the future.

Sora launched as an invite-only social network that mirrored a vertical video feed. Users could generate clips from text prompts and scan their faces to create realistic avatars for use in videos. The flagship feature was initially called “cameos” and later renamed “characters” following a trademark challenge from the celebrity video service Cameo.

Sora’s rules barred generating videos of public figures who had not opted in, yet users found ways to bypass those limits. Deepfakes of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and actor Robin Williams appeared, and their daughters publicly asked users to stop making videos of their deceased fathers. Users also created videos featuring copyrighted characters from major franchises, raising infringement risks.

Adoption cooled after an early surge. The app peaked in November with about 3,332,200 downloads across Apple’s App Store and Google Play, according to mobile intelligence firm Appfigures. By February, monthly downloads had fallen to 1,128,700. Appfigures estimates Sora generated about $2.1 million in lifetime revenue from in-app purchases that sold additional video-generation credits.

OpenAI has not detailed what will happen to existing user content and remaining credits. The company has not indicated whether it plans to reuse Sora’s social features elsewhere or concentrate on distributing video tools through ChatGPT and developer products.