OpenAI declared on Tuesday the closure of Sora, a social app reminiscent of TikTok that launched half a year ago. The reason for this decision, along with the official discontinuation date, was not disclosed by OpenAI.
Initially, Sora was introduced as an invite-only social platform that generated significant interest. However, similar to Meta’s Horizon Worlds—struggling despite its importance to the company’s metaverse strategy—Sora lacked longevity. Although the impressive Sora 2 model was behind its video and audio capabilities, an AI-exclusive social feed failed to sustain appeal.
A statement from Sora’s official Twitter account expressed gratitude to its users, promising updates on timelines for the app and API.
Sora mimicked TikTok’s vertical video style, offering a feature called “cameos” (later renamed “characters” due to a lawsuit) that allowed users to scan and create deepfake versions of themselves, sharing them publicly.
From the start, Sora was a poorly moderated space filled with unsettling deepfake content, including notable figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robin Williams, leading to public outcry from their families to cease these creations.
Content featuring famous characters violating copyrights, like Mario consuming cannabis and Pikachu engaging in ASMR, was generated by users, inviting legal scrutiny. However, instead of legal action, Disney invested $1 billion in a licensing agreement to allow the use of its characters, a deal that evaporated with Sora’s shutdown.
Despite garnering over 3.3 million downloads at its peak, Sora’s decline to 1.1 million downloads by February rendered it unsustainable. The app generated $2.1 million from in-app purchases but was unable to offset OpenAI’s significant losses, leading to the decision to end it.
The Sora app’s release signaled a new era where deepfake creation tools became easily accessible, prompting widespread reactions and concerns over privacy and misuse. While Sora has ended, its model is still behind the ChatGPT paywall, suggesting AI-driven social apps will likely re-emerge, continuing to present risks of misuse with future technologies.