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Sora shutting down: OpenAI closing AI video-making app draws sharp reactions; Disney exits investment deal
Sora, the AI video-generating app from OpenAI is closing down, it announced in a statement and Disney is reportedly set to exit the investment deal with OpenAI.
Sora, the AI video-generating app from OpenAI is closing down, it announced in a statement on Tuesday. The decision to shutter the app drew sharp reactions from many online. Meanwhile, it was reported that Disney was set to exit the investment deal it had with Sam Altman's company, as a result of this move.
“We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app. 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 statement read.
It added “We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work.”
The decision drew sharp reactions from many.
Sora shutdown: Reactions
Some mourned the loss of Sora. “This is insane. Do you all know what you’re throwing away here?!?!?! Are you going to open source it at least??????,” one person replied on X.
Another added “The first week with Sora was one of the best times we had in the AI video space. Thanks for that, it was epic!”.
Many noted that Sora's closure was an edge for Elon Musk's Grok. “HAHAH @elonmusk is winning visual AI for sureee,” a person wrote on X. Another added “@grok good work. Now destroy them in coding too. It's time for the stolen non-profit to end," tagging X's AI chatbot.
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Many also drew comparisons with Anthropic and where they were in the AI market. “Meta is pivoting from Metaverse, OpenAI shut down Sora, however…Anthropic quietly eating the entire AI market while everyone else rebrands,” one person wrote.
Another suggested a possible cause for Sora shutting down. “I believe this is so they can keep up competitively with Anthropic but huge W nonetheless,” they said. Yet another said "If you are curious, why the took down Sora: they needed the compute to train their new LLM. "At the same time, he said the company had completed the initial development of its next major AI model, codenamed Spud, and would wind down the Sora AI video mobile app, which employees had complained was a drag on the company’s computing resources during a time of heightened competition with foes such as Anthropic and Google." However, I assume Sora will be back in the new 'ChatGPT Superapp'."
OpenAI has in recent months come under massive pressure from Anthropic, NBC News also noted in a report.
An exact reason for Sora's closure was not given but it comes ahead of the expected initial public stock offering from OpenAI in the coming months. Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI sought to focus on coding and ‘agent’ tools.
Disney exiting OpenAI deal
Meanwhile, reports said that Disney is exiting the deal with OpenAI that it signed last year where it pledged to invest $1 billion in the company and also agreed to license some of its characters to be used in Sora.
Disney "respect[s] OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere," a spokesperson said as per NBC News.
“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,” the statement added.
