OpenAI’s Sora was the creepiest app on your phone — now it’s shutting down

OpenAI has officially announced the discontinuation of Sora, its AI-driven social media application reminiscent of TikTok, just six months after its launch. The company has not provided a specific reason for this decision nor a timeline for when the app will be taken offline. When Sora debuted as an exclusive invite-only platform, it generated significant buzz and demand for invitations. However, similar to other social ventures like Meta's Horizon Worlds, which has struggled to maintain relevance, Sora failed to sustain user engagement. Despite the impressive capabilities of its underlying video and audio generation model, interest in an AI-only social feed waned rapidly. In a message to its users, OpenAI expressed gratitude to those who engaged with Sora, acknowledging the community built around the app and the creative efforts of its users. They also indicated that further details regarding the app's closure and its related API would be shared soon. Designed to emulate a TikTok-style interface, Sora's standout feature, initially called "cameos" (later renamed to "characters" after a legal dispute), allowed users to create hyper-realistic deepfake videos of themselves. Unfortunately, the app's launch was marred by content that was often unsettling, including various deepfakes of public figures. Users quickly began to exploit the platform’s limitations, generating videos featuring both living and deceased personalities, which drew criticism and concern from family members of those depicted. Instead of facing legal action, OpenAI received a substantial investment from Disney, which included plans for a licensing deal to incorporate beloved characters from their franchises. However, with Sora's closure, this potential partnership appears to be off the table. Initial downloads for Sora peaked in November, reaching over 3.3 million downloads, but by February, this number had dropped significantly to about 1.1 million. In comparison, OpenAI's ChatGPT boasts 900 million weekly active users, highlighting Sora's inability to compete. During its brief run, Sora generated around $2.1 million through in-app purchases, but it seems that the app's operational costs outweighed its financial benefits—especially for a company already facing significant losses. While many anticipated the rise of deepfake technology in social media, the quick demise of Sora serves as a cautionary tale. Although Sora is being phased out, the underlying technology is still accessible via the ChatGPT platform. As AI continues to evolve, it remains likely that new social media applications featuring similar capabilities will emerge, keeping the conversation about deepfake technology alive.