OpenAI announced that it has decided to discontinue Sora, a generative AI video creation app released last year.
“We say goodbye to Sora. Thank you to everyone who created work with Sora, shared it, and built a community around Sora.” the company said in a statement (via THR). “What you created with Sora was important, and we know this news is disappointing. We’ll be sharing more details soon, including a timeline for our apps and APIs, and details about preserving your work.”
The recent news of Disney’s $1 billion partnership with OpenAI caused a lot of controversy, but the Mouse House recently announced that it has terminated the deal.
As part of a three-year licensing agreement, Sora would have access to more than 200 masked, animated, or creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars for use in user-directed videos. Sora and ChatGPT Images “planned to produce fan-inspired videos featuring Disney-licensed characters in early 2026. Disney+ will now feature a curated selection of Sora-generated videos.”
“Technological innovation has continually shaped the evolution of entertainment, giving us new ways to create and share great stories with the world.” Disney CEO Bob Iger said at the time: “The rapid advances in artificial intelligence come at an important time for our industry.” Through this collaboration with OpenAI, we will expand the reach of storytelling through generative AI in a thoughtful and responsible way, while respecting and protecting creators and their work. ”
OpenAI did not disclose the reason for its decision to close Sora, but clearly Disney had little choice.
“As the nascent field of AI advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and shift its priorities to other areas.” a Disney spokesperson said. “We are grateful for the constructive collaboration between our teams and what we learned from it, and we will continue to engage with our AI platform to find new ways to meet our fans where they are, while responsibly embracing new technologies that respect intellectual property and creator rights.”
It’s safe to say that few people outside of Disney’s upper echelons were upset by the news, but ending the deal doesn’t mean Disney is getting out of the AI business completely. Although nothing has been confirmed, Disney is expected to sign a deal with another AI company at some point.
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