The OpenAI artificial intelligence firm announced Tuesday it was shuttering its Sora video-generation app, which was a key element of The Walt Disney Co.’s $1 billion investment in the company that included an agreement to allow the use of some of its characters on the video-creation service.
“We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app,” OpenAI announced on social media Tuesday. “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 app was released last year and rapidly gained popularity for its video-generation capabilities, although it gained some critics due to questions over its initial use of copyrighted materials and characters. The company quickly changed its policies on the use of such material, giving entertainment studios and individuals more say over the use of materials and images on the platform.
In December, Disney announced it was investing $1 billion in OpenAI and inking a three-year licensing deal to allow users of Sora to create content featuring iconic Disney characters.
“The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry, and through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works,” then-Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement at the time. “Bringing together Disney’s iconic stories and characters with OpenAI’s groundbreaking technology puts imagination and creativity directly into the hands of Disney fans in ways we’ve never seen before, giving them richer and more personal ways to connect with the Disney characters and stories they love.”
Several industry trade publications reported Tuesday that Disney had pulled the plug on its $1 billion deal with OpenAI in response to the shuttering of Sora. Disney issued a statement Tuesday on the OpenAI announcement, but did not directly indicate whether the deal was scrubbed.
“As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere,” according to the Disney statement. “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.”
The licensing arrangement would have allowed users of the Sora platform to generate shareable video content with access to more than 200 Disney-owned characters, with curated selections of Sora-generated videos also expected to appear on Disney+.
Characters available under the agreement were expected to range from classic figures such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Cinderella, to those from the worlds of “Star Wars,” “Frozen,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Toy Story” and “Moana,” along with those from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.