Tuesday, March 24th 2026
OpenAI Shuts Down Sora API and App, Disney Withdraws $1 Bn Investment
There has been much said about OpenAI's Sora video app—both positive, about how the tech would make video creators and social media influencers obsolete, and negative, about how it would kill creativity and fill the internet with soulless slop—but it seems like neither side of that argument will ever get to find out if they were correct. In a recent post on X, OpenAI announced that it would be shutting down both the Sora app and API, suggesting a pivot away from video generation at OpenAI. A final date for the app and API closure has not yet been announced, but OpenAI says it will reveal more information soon.
Following the announcement, The Hollywood Reporter reported that a Disney spokesperson had confirmed that the media giant would be withdrawing a previously announced $1 billion investment into OpenAI's video generation model and product. Disney's statement reads: "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." The closure of Sora comes after backlash and legal action against OpenAI from a number of publishers, including Square Enix, Bandai Namco, and Nintendo over AI-generated videos created with some of their characters and other IPs.
Sources:
Sora on X, The Hollywood Reporter
Following the announcement, The Hollywood Reporter reported that a Disney spokesperson had confirmed that the media giant would be withdrawing a previously announced $1 billion investment into OpenAI's video generation model and product. Disney's statement reads: "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." The closure of Sora comes after backlash and legal action against OpenAI from a number of publishers, including Square Enix, Bandai Namco, and Nintendo over AI-generated videos created with some of their characters and other IPs.
36 Comments on OpenAI Shuts Down Sora API and App, Disney Withdraws $1 Bn Investment
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D yeah right, a bunch of useless non-sensical videos that wasted a fuck ton of electricity and compute time, that sure mattered :ohwell:
I take it OpenAI's Sora was under some kind of massive legal threat? Clearly, whatever they ran away from was over a Billion in risk, that they didn't think they could fight, and win.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(company)
Sora uses a ton of energy and compute resources to produce generic videos and/or memes that a few people will watch once and discard. Nothing of value is produced, just spent and wasted
It should only be made publicly available when it costs nothing.
This just means they don't see the point in providing AI to the end customers, we just don't pay enough with subscriptions. That doesn't mean an equivalent of Sora won't be available in professional market, replacing CGI artists, filmmakers with AI generated stuff.
AI is perfectly able to pay for itself without the individual end customers, as long as it has the ability to replace people in corporations - and we se layoffs already, and stock market is applauding it. We were just beta testers, providing them with free uploads of material, until we weren't needed.
There is also the non-monetary cost question - was working on video having a detrimental impact on non-video model training. There's only so much compute capacity and engineering expertise they have and other non-video models are threatening chat GPTs core capabilities. They need to focus on staying competitive there.
The Chinese AI app sending Hollywood into a panic
And if you want to sue someone for copyright infringements, you can't be doing the same with other hand.
This is of course big problem for Holywood, who has been cheaping out on CGI for years now, to the point that big blockbusters with several hundred million dollar budgets look worse than their decades old, much cheaper predecessors, and they look worse than cheaply made AI generated ones.
Who's the slop now?
i do not watch a certain ** television but it was said at the end of the video the "SORA" "AI" "icon" was in the fake news. fake news as it was wrong statements and computer based falsified fake news. facts. as proven. if it were wrong they would have been sued already in ** and ** for ** television fake news. note: lets stick to the fact they used sora to generate a video which they aired on television over satellite and locally.
self sencorship with **. let's respect the rules although i see it myself partly violated by politics. schöllhammer and heinzlmaier, as seen quite often as experts in certain media, will never claim something which is false. they phrase their words properly because of the culture to sue others in ** and **.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumpy_Cat
...
Me hopes.
Tries to acquire poking device....