Sora, OpenAI's app for creating AI-generated videos, has been downloaded over 1 million times. Bill Peebles, OpenAI's Sora lead, shared the information on social media network X last night.

Peebles said Sora reached 1 million app downloads even faster than ChatGPT, and interest in the app is growing even though it's currently invite-only and available only in the U.S. and Canada.
Sora was released at the end of September. It is designed to generate AI videos using realistic videos of real people and their friends. Each user can upload a “cameo” or short video to be used in the AI prompts.
The app includes an option for users to share a cameo, allowing a person of their choice or anyone on Sora to generate an AI video that looks like them. Sora has been criticized for creating AI slop, but that hasn't affected its popularity. It remains the top free app on Apple's App Store.
Sora uses OpenAI's Sora 2 video generation model, which can handle complex motion in realistic, cinematic, and anime-style videos. Sora 2 supports audio generation, so all video productions on Sora are accompanied by sound.
OpenAI designed Sora to show you content based on who you follow and interact with, and the app regularly surveys you about your health. There are controls to change what appears in your feed, and OpenAI says it's intended for use with friends, so it's invitation-only.
Sora is free to download, and OpenAI is not currently restricting video generation to subscribers. [Direct Link]
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