OpenAI’s new text-to-video app, Sora, hit one million downloads faster than ChatGPT, a milestone first reported by Maginative, but its launch has been engulfed by immediate backlash over copyright infringement and the use of celebrity likenesses.
Viral velocity: Sora head Bill Peebles confirmed on X the app hit the milestone in under five days, despite being invite-only for iOS users in the U.S. and Canada. The app runs on the new Sora 2 model, allowing users to generate 10-second videos from text prompts and insert their own "cameo" likeness into scenes.
Move fast, break things: The platform was almost instantly flooded with videos of copyrighted characters, leading one writer to characterize the feed as "AI-generated slop." The outrage intensified over the app's handling of public figures, which came to a head when Zelda Williams, daughter of the late Robin Williams, publicly asked people to stop sending her AI-generated videos of her father.
Damage control: Facing pressure, OpenAI is now reversing course, with CEO Sam Altman promising to give rights holders "more granular control" and teasing a future revenue-sharing model. But as new guardrails are implemented, user complaints about "overmoderation" have surfaced, leading Altman to simply ask for "grace."
Sora's chaotic launch is a textbook case of Silicon Valley's "release now, patch later" ethos, putting the unresolved legal and ethical battles of generative AI squarely in the public spotlight.
The legal risks for AI are very real, as rival firm Anthropic recently agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement over copyright claims. As the Sora fallout continues, you can get a deeper look at why Hollywood is freaking out over the new video generator, while elsewhere at Apple, reports suggest big changes are coming to its hardware and streaming service.
