Gone are the days when a "fake" on the internet was easy to spot, often just a badly Photoshopped picture. Now, we're swimming in a sea of AI-generated videos and deepfakes, from bogus celebrity endorsements to false disaster broadcasts. The latest technology has become uncomfortably clever at blurring the lines between reality and fiction, making it almost impossible to discern what's real.
And the situation is rapidly escalating. OpenAI's Sora is already muddying the waters, but now its viral "social media app," Sora 2, is the internet's hottest — and most deceptive — ticket. It's a TikTok-style feed where everything is 100% fake. This author has called it a "deepfake fever dream" and for good reason. The platform is continually improving when it comes to making fiction look realistic, with significant real-world risks.
If you're struggling to separate the real from the AI, you're not alone. Here are some helpful tips that should help you cut through the noise to get to the truth of each AI-inspired creation.
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My AI expert take on Sora videos
From a technical standpoint, Sora videos are impressive compared to competitors such as Midjourney V1 and Google Veo 3. They have high resolution, synchronized audio and surprising creativity. Sora's most popular feature, dubbed "cameo," lets you use other people's likenesses and insert them into nearly any AI-generated scene. It's an impressive tool, resulting in scarily realistic videos.
That's why so many experts are concerned about Sora. The app makes it easier for anyone to create dangerous deepfakes, spread misinformation and blur the line between what's real and what's not. Public figures and celebrities are especially vulnerable to these deepfakes, and unions like SAG-AFTRA have pushed OpenAI to strengthen its guardrails.
Identifying AI content is an ongoing challenge for tech companies, social media platforms and everyone else. But it's not totally hopeless. Here are some things to look out for to determine whether a video was made using Sora.
Look for the Sora watermark
Every video made on the Sora iOS app includes a watermark when you download it. It's the white Sora logo — a cloud icon — that bounces around the edges of the video. It's similar to the way TikTok videos are watermarked. Watermarking content is one of the biggest ways AI companies can visually help us spot AI-generated content. Google's Gemini "nano banana" model automatically watermarks its images. Watermarks are great because they serve as a clear sign that the content was made with the help of AI.
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