OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the shutdown of the Sora video app to avoid creating addictive engagement features that would have made it commercially viable. This statement was made during his first interview since the abrupt closure, which was conducted by journalist Laurie Segall for the Mostly Human podcast.
OpenAI disclosed on March 24 that it would discontinue Sora, a short-form video generation tool launched in late 2024. This decision terminated a $1 billion partnership with Walt Disney Co., which had been announced in December and aimed to provide users licensed access to over 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars characters.
Disney was notified about the closure less than an hour before the public announcement. A Disney spokesperson stated, “As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere.”
In the interview, Altman highlighted that Sora was losing users due to high operational costs, burning through approximately $1 million per day while its user base plummeted from one million to fewer than 500,000. The shutdown followed a jury verdict that found Meta and YouTube liable for creating harmful features, awarding $6 million in damages. This ruling raised ethical concerns regarding tech companies’ responsibilities in preventing user addiction.
Altman confirmed that OpenAI had rejected an internal proposal to integrate Sora’s features into the ChatGPT platform. He stated that the closure aligns with OpenAI’s strategic pivot towards focusing on coding tools and enterprise customers. Additionally, the research team from Sora will transition to developing world simulation models aimed at advancing robotics.
The Sora app will be taken offline on April 26, with the developer API scheduled for shutdown on September 24.
