OpenAI to Say Goodbye to Sora: Is the Price of AI Video Finally Getting Too High?

As far as revolutions go, this one was pretty short-lived. OpenAI has announced that it is saying goodbye to Sora, the company’s AI video platform. Introduced just over two years ago, Sora was—at its launch—seen as the highest point for the potential of a social AI video revolution.

But, as new AI video models have seemingly surpassed it (namely Seedance 2.0, despite its legal problems), Sora never really caught on with audiences or creatives in any meaningful way.

Here’s what we know so far about this news and what could be some reasons for this sudden departure of a giant brand in the AI space.

OpenAI to Discontinue Sora

Better known to most outside of the AI video world as the company behind ChatGPT, it’s hard to undersell just how big a deal Sora was when it was first introduced. All of the “filmmakers are cooked” rhetoric online being attributed to Seedance 2.0 as of late was equally focused on Sora when it was announced, and even more so when Sora 2 came out.

Here’s the full statement from Sora:

We’re saying goodbye to Sora. 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. We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work. – The Sora Team

It certainly seems the writing has been on the wall for Sora for a couple of reasons. And these reasons might foreshadow what’s to come for generative AI video in general.

What’s Next for AI Video?

Sora and AI video overall, really isn’t that popular. You could say “not popular yet,” but even that’s certainly debatable. Besides posts shared on social media showcasing Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt and the political videos your grandparents watch on Facebook, there hasn’t been a huge demand for AI-created content.

The other big factor here is cost, and this might be the more concerning one. According to all manner of reports, AI is expensive. Like, really expensive. And if text and generative images are costly, you can only imagine what video costs might be reaching.

For OpenAI, perhaps the biggest and most notable brand name in the AI space, to make this decision, we have to imagine it’s one based on money and resources. However, if you’re someone squarely in the F*** AI camp, you might want to hold your excitement back a bit as it does sound like OpenAI isn’t done with generative video for good.

But, if there’s anything to take away here, it’s that the price of this AI revolution isn’t cheap, and it’s perhaps not endless.