OpenAI’s New Sora App Lets Users Generate AI Videos—And Star in Them

Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI could do this soon

TO Denis Ellis Bechard edited by Andrea Gavrilevsky

I didn't think it would happen like this. I imagined Disney would be the first to test AI-generated episodes using characters from libraries it licenses or owns. IN article last JanuaryI wrote that AI would eventually allow us to create new episodes of our favorite TV shows, inviting our favorite stars (even long-gone ones like Marilyn Monroe) to appear in shows like Game of Thrones. When I tested OpenAI's Sora 2 after its October 30 release, this is exactly what I got – Monroe as Targaryen, riding a dragon, reading Scientific American. (Watch the video Here.) Although AI-generated on-demand TV has yet to arrive, if the videos I've seen on Sora's feed are anything to go by, users are obsessed with making it.

Unlike the original Sora, Sora 2 is not just a video creation platform; it's a social app with a TikTok-style feed of short AI-generated videos, and it lets you allow “cameos” of yourself so friends can add your image to their skits, as well as retract it later if you see too many videos of you running from the police or crying on game shows.

Sora 2 has remarkable interpretive abilities. For example, my short prompt asked for a woman who looked like Monroe riding a dragon, but I said that she would rather be a scientist than an incestuous Targaryen riding a dragon. Although I didn't propose any script, Sora 2 created a script that was surprisingly witty. Just as ChatGPT can generate entire scripts in response to short, vague queries or follow long, detailed instructions, the new Sora can invent a complex scene based on both.

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Within hours of Sora's launch, critics condemned it as “sucks” even though they were creating their own content using the app, such as when the Fireship YouTube channel posted Video made by Sora by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shouting, “Eat your slop, piglets,” to people kneeling in front of a bowl of pig slop. As thousands of users began experimenting with the app, the sleaze took many forms: surreal memes, collages, jokes, and especially riffs on Altman. Altman steals someone's art and runs to the door or peers through the blinds in fear that Elon Musk is going to take over OpenAI. People also started making videos South Park what are they collected in episodes and placed elsewhere. Twice I came across a video of the animated characters Rick and Morty cooking blue meth like Walt and Jesse in Breaking Bad. Although OpenAI initially stated that it would allow the use of copyrighted symbols. unless the copyright holders have opted outA wave of copyright complaints within the first two days prompted OpenAI to introduce restrictions. On social media, while some people complained about the “garbage” of the AI, others complained that Sora was already dead – too stifled for any real creative expression.

If the mood seems familiar, it's because we've seen it before. YouTube used to be an infringement engine until a lawsuit forced it to fingerprint every upload. Twitch.tv and TikTok each dealt with copyright infringement in their own ways, and most social networks were a smorgasbord of sleazy content—food photos, filtered selfies, meme farms, and oversharing. For the platforms that survived, the arc shifted from chaos to systems that regulated the use of copyrighted material and rewarded creators for creating original work. Sora will need the same boring plumbing if she wants to break out of the novelty. But history tells us that platforms can evolve.

IN blog post This week, Altman explained that Sora is working to give “copyright holders more granular control over character creation” and find ways to monetize the platform and allow fan fiction. But what will keep people using Sora after the novelty wears off? Personality is the driving force behind much of modern media: YouTubers, podcasters, old-fashioned celebrities, and even animated characters. Sora's “cameo” system hints at the evolving etiquette of consent and shared ownership by using images of real people. Indeed, Altman, thanks to a huge number of parodies, seems to have joined the pantheon of comic characters along with South ParkEric Cartman and Family GuyThis is Peter Griffin. (To prevent unauthorized deepfakes, the platform blocks uploads of images of real people who are not users and watermarks all videos.)

For all the talk about AI-generated slop, we may not be underestimating the power of AI, but the power of human creativity. People working at Mattel and Toys “R” Us are already using the technology to create character prototypes, and Sora users can do the same with action figures from their own imaginations. Some spawn mini-episodes of alien invasion or Mars colonization; And with more advanced tools and specialized channels, this kind of work can develop into monetized series with their own story and favorite characters.

Other companies aren't far behind: Meta recently released Vibes, an AI-powered social media feature that doesn't use voices. Google Veo 3, which generates video with audio, offers much less interactive Flow TV, and YouTube is already integrating artificial intelligence tools to support creators. I could easily imagine Disney or Netflix with an interface similar to Sora's, allowing viewers to carve out side stories from the series and create prequels and sequels – and, most of all, share those creations so they can watch and remix each other's contributions. But users will be hungry for more than just fan fiction, and Sora seems well-positioned to become an on-demand TV experience that will allow them to create original content they'll want to watch and share. If history is any guide, thriving social networks are those that support and protect human creativity—in this case, the creativity that makes it possible to create the TV shows and movies you always dreamed would exist.

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