Tags: Sora

Disney has terminated its planned $1 billion partnership with OpenAI, citing concerns surrounding the AI video tool Sora. While talks about alternative collaboration continue, the split follows heightened legal pressure on OpenAI and a shift in Hollywood’s focus to competing AI video apps. Disney has issued cease‑and‑desist letters to firms it accuses of using its intellectual property without permission, and has threatened legal action against companies it believes trained on its copyrighted works. The move reflects growing tension between traditional media owners and emerging AI technologies. Read more

OpenAI announced it will shut down its Sora video‑generation app and API, a move that also ends the high‑profile licensing partnership with Disney. Executives said the decision follows internal discussions about research priorities and resource allocation, noting that Sora required extensive compute power that limited other teams. The company reiterated its focus on core products such as ChatGPT, Codex and the AI browser, while hinting at a forthcoming “superapp” strategy. The announcement caught many employees by surprise and signals a shift away from experimental side projects toward practical adoption. Read more

OpenAI announced the shutdown of Sora, its AI-powered social video platform that sought to blend TikTok-style feeds with deepfake technology. Launched as an invite‑only service, the app generated buzz but failed to sustain user interest, leading the company to end the product without providing a timeline or detailed explanation. While the underlying Sora 2 model remains available through ChatGPT, the decision marks the end of OpenAI's experiment with an AI‑first social feed and raises questions about the future of deepfake‑centric applications. Read more

Director Valerie Veatch, initially intrigued by OpenAI's 2024 Sora text-to-video model, became alarmed by the technology's racist and sexist outputs. Her frustration led to the creation of the documentary "Ghost in the Machine," which traces generative AI back to Victorian‑era eugenics and the statistical work of Francis Galton and Karl Pearson. The film interviews researchers and historians, highlights Veatch's own encounters with biased AI results, and critiques industry indifference. It will stream on Kinema from March 26th to March 28th before a PBS broadcast in the fall. Read more