OpenAI is closing its short-form video app Sora, stepping away from a fast-growing but increasingly controversial part of the AI market.
The company announced it was “saying goodbye to the Sora app” and promised further details on how users can сохранить their creations.
“What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing,” it said.
Launched in September, Sora was designed to tap into the attention economy dominated by TikTok, YouTube and Instagram — but built around AI-generated video. It quickly gained traction, not just for creative experimentation, but for how easily users could generate realistic content from simple prompts.
That accessibility also became the core problem.
Critics warned that the platform blurred the line between creativity and misuse. Concerns ranged from nonconsensual imagery to deepfakes, as well as a broader flood of low-quality AI content. OpenAI attempted to introduce restrictions, particularly around public figures like Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr and Mister Rogers, but only after backlash from rights holders and industry groups.
The shutdown suggests those tensions may have outweighed the platform’s potential.
It also has business implications. Sora was tied to a high-profile partnership with Disney, including a planned $1bn investment and access to a large catalogue of characters. But the deal never formally closed, and according to reports, even partners were caught off guard by how abruptly the project was dropped.
“It was a big rug-pull,” one source said, describing how Disney teams were informed shortly after ongoing collaboration discussions.
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