Disney’s Big Bet For Fans Just Fell Apart Before It Even Began

OpenAI announced on Tuesday that it plans to shut down the video creation platform Sora, which launched in 2024. The company did not give a reason for their decision.

“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,” OpenAI’s Sora team said in a statement shared on social media.

“We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work.”

This news comes on the heels of Disney announcing a major $1 billion partnership agreement with the tech company, which would have allowed OpenAI to use characters from Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel franchises in its Sora video generator.

Much ado was made about users having the opportunity to create “fan-inspired” videos with Disney’s licensed characters, like Mickey Mouse, with Disney+ adding some of those Sora-generated videos as part of the exclusive deal.

But that’s all reportedly off the table now as Disney ends its partnership with OpenAI.

“As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere,” Disney said in a statement, per Variety. “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.”

Hollywood was up in arms over the newest release of the second-generation Sora model in September, with many critics saying the realistic videos posed a threat to human talent and opened the floodgates for massive copyright infringement and deepfakes.

Now social media users are weighing in on the abrupt closure, speculating that Sora could be facing a massive lawsuit. That rumor has not been confirmed by the company.

OpenAI, led by CEO Sam Altman, will not give up AI video generation completely. They are just abandoning the standalone Sora app for reasons that are yet to be revealed.