GoKawiilOpenAI confirmed on Tuesday that it is discontinuing its once-viral AI video app, Sora. OpenAI's $1 billion deal with Disney, which included licensing of over 200 Disney characters to appear on Sora, is also ending.
"We've decided to discontinue Sora in the consumer app and API," an OpenAI spokesperson told CNET. "As we focus and compute demand grows, the Sora research team continues to focus on world simulation research to advance robotics that will help people solve real-world, physical tasks."
There's no timeline on the app's deprecation. Sora will also be removed from the API. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
While last fall was all about generative media, 2026 has had AI companies focused on business-oriented products. Anthropic stunned the industry with its Claude Cowork and Code tools, which use advanced agentic and generative tech. OpenAI's head of applications, Fidji Simo, reportedly told employees earlier this month that it will cut down on "side quests" to focus on more core activities, presumably coding and other enterprise tools.
Given all this, it's unsurprising to hear OpenAI say it's going to pull the plug on Sora. But OpenAI pulling the plug on such a big, public project is a significant sign of a lack of confidence in the generative media industry from one of its top titans.
Sora is a unique app, part AI and part social media. It lets you create AI videos featuring the likenesses of yourself and other Sora users, which you can scroll through like you would on your TikTok feed. The videos were so realistic that they provoked concerns from celebrities, public figures and advocacy groups that the tech could be used to create deepfakes. Sora was also one of many AI models that contributed to the ever-growing landfill of AI slop online.
A Walt Disney Company spokesperson told CNET: "As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI's decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere. 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."
If Disney does pursue a new deal with another AI company, it will have a plethora of options, including more professional sets-ups Google and Runway. But video generators like Sora are controversial. The same day Disney announced its deal with OpenAI, the entertainment giant slapped Google with a copyright infringement lawsuit, alleging its Gemini AI aided people in creating replicas of characters that are Disney's intellectual property.