OpenAI Will Shut Down Sora Video App; Disney Drops Plans for $1 Billion Investment

Written By Curt Doty

Disney, which had inked a major pact for Sora, said it 'will continue to engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans where they are

By Todd Spangler, Variety

OpenAI said it will discontinue Sora, the generative-AI video creation app it launched last year, without providing a reason for the decision.

“We’re saying goodbye to Sora. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing,” OpenAI’s Sora team said in a statement Tuesday.

The statement added, “We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work.” OpenAI didn’t respond to requests for additional info.

The announcement comes just three months after Disney inked a groundbreaking deal with OpenAI. Under the three-year licensing agreement, Sora would have been able to generate user-prompted videos from a set of more than 200 masked, animated or creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars. Sora and ChatGPT Images were to generate “fan-inspired” videos with Disney’s licensed characters in early 2026 — with Disney+ adding a curated selections of Sora-generated videos.

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Curt Doty

Curt Doty is a former NBC Universal creative executive and award-winning marketer. As a creative entrepreneur, his sweet spot of innovation has been uniting the worlds of design, content and technology. Working with Microsoft, Toshiba and Apple, Curt created award-winning advanced content experiences for mobile, eBooks and advertising. He has bridged the gap between TV, Film and Technology while working with all the movie studios and dozens of TV networks. Curt’s Fortune 500 work includes content marketing and digital storytelling for brands like GM, US Army, Abbott, Dell, and Viacom.

https://www.curtdoty.co
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