The creator of ChatGPT is entering the social media space with Sora, an iOS app named after a generative artificial intelligence video model. The app uses OpenAI’s new Sora 2 model and lets users create videos and remix other people’s videos. You can also add yourself or friends to videos via “cameo” mode.
It’s launching today alongside a new social video app for iPhones called Sora. The currently invite-only app resembles TikTok, with a stream of videos you can watch in random order. But instead of encouraging people to create duets, it asks you to record short videos that anyone can turn into new AI-generated “deepfakes” – with your permission.
OpenAI says feedback from testers suggests this is what makes the app different and fun to use as a “new and unique way to communicate with people”. Within a week of launching the app internally it “heard from our colleagues that they’re making new friends at the company because of the feature”.
OpenAI currently has a lot of restrictions on generating videos of public figures, but that may not be the case forever, according to the briefing with reporters. Currently, “public figures can’t be generated in Sora unless they’ve uploaded a cameo themselves and given consent for it to be used,”
OpenAI wrote in a release accompanying the announcement. “The same applies to everyone: if you haven’t uploaded a cameo, your likeness can’t be used.” OpenAI employees also said it’s currently “impossible to generate” X-rated or “extreme” content via the platform.
There are mechanisms in place to periodically poll users about their well-being, and it is said that the time spent using the channels is not optimized. Instead, it prioritizes creation over consumption, which also seems logical for OpenAI’s business model, as it plans to eventually charge a fee on a generation-by-generation basis when demand is high.
The app will also have default limits on how many times teens can view per day, and stricter permissions for those under 18 to show a cameo. It’s unclear if this will only require self-verification, but OpenAI is also adding parental controls through ChatGPT.
It will be interesting to see how Instagram and TikTok respond to the new competition. Now could be a great time for existing platforms to differentiate themselves by committing to creating original content and better tagging AI material.
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