Above: Toys”R”Us trailer using the Sora Text AI video generator
It wasn't that long ago that we were introduced to Sora, a text-to-video generator from Open AI that would provide up to a minute of video files in response to a text prompt. When it was released, it showed the potential of this software, which was quite astounding for a relatively new phenomenon.
But it raised questions about its usage and the impact it would have on the industry. The answers appear to be pretty big, with the first Sora AI-generated TV commercial being released by a major brand.
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About two weeks ago, the major toy retailer Toys R Us released what it called “the first brand film produced by Sora,” which tells the story of the store's concept.
“We're excited to partner with Native Foreign to push the boundaries of Sora, a groundbreaking new technology from OpenAI that is garnering global attention,” said Toys”R”Us. “Sora can create videos up to one minute long featuring realistic scenes and multiple characters that are generated from text instructions.”
The video, which has been shared on the retailer's website and YouTube, is just over a minute long. While there is no evidence of the prompt used, a caption was posted alongside the video, stating: “Imagine the excitement of creating a young Charles Lazarus, founder of Toys R Us, in the early 1930s and dreaming up his dreams for our iconic brand and beloved mascot, Jeffrey the Giraffe.”
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There's a lot to unpack in this video, including flaws like merging cars and obvious continuity errors, but one of the main takeaways is that this doesn't seem to bother Toys”R”Us. The video is completely unpolished and, if it was made by “human hands,” probably would never have seen the light of day. So why is this the case?
I think it's because of the novelty of an AI-made piece, but I don't necessarily think it's a good thing that should be highlighted. While the production of this commercial undoubtedly saved the retailer money, it took away an entire video production team. This sets a new precedent that will undoubtedly be followed by more companies as the technology advances.
Again, video is nothing special and in my opinion, it will never replace human creativity or filmmaking. But just as image generation is slowly replacing stock images, I think this is the beginning of video. It may be a while before we see full AI-generated movies, but mainstream AI-generated video is no longer just a future concern, it's a real and present danger.
