OpenAI has announced it will shut down its video creator Sora.
The news comes after the tech company stated it will shift its focus to robotics and technologies aimed at solving “real-world tasks”.
OpenAI was losing a reported $15 million a day on Sora. The company also struggled with disputes surrounding non-consensual sexual content and copyright infringement. The head of Sora Bill Peebles said in 2025 that the “economics are completely unsustainable”
Sora posted on Twitter announcing the closure: “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.”
Sora was released to the public in 2024, with a specific app, Sora 2, launching six months ago. Users could make hyper-realistic videos by adding text prompts, images or videos. However, people criticised these “AI slop” videos for their lack of regulation and soulless content. Some users created racist videos from celebrities saying slurs, to misinformation about the US-Israel war in Iran.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported that TikTok users were making anti-immigrant videos, which reached millions of views and generated revenue for creators.
Disney has since pulled out of a $1 billion three-year deal with Sora, which would have allowed users to make videos of up to 200 Disney characters. The videos would have been available to upload onto Disney+. This sparked backlash with people describing the deal as “disrespectful” and “disappointing”. Despite ending the deal with OpenAI, Disney has said, “We will continue to engage with AI platforms”.
OpenAI will also remove ChatGPT’s video-making capabilities and look into helping users save videos they made.
Featured image credit: Sora
Third year journalism student. 2025/2026 Lifestyle and Comment Editor at Brig. Published in The Yucatán Times, Mi Campeche and The Mourning Paper. Host of From the 40s with Air3Radio.
