OpenAI’s Sora app from ChatGPT maker tests limits of copyright

The new social media app featuring realistic AI-generated videos and audio is in high demand amid swirling questions about copyright.

Sam Altman singing in a toilet. James Bond playing Altman in high-stakes poker. Pikachu storming Normandy’s beaches. Mario jumping from his virtual world into real life.

Those are just some of the lifelike videos that are rocketing through the internet a day after OpenAI released Sora, an app at the intersection of social media and artificial intelligence-powered media generation. The app surged to be the most popular app in the iOS App Store’s Photo and Video category within a day of its release.

Powered by OpenAI’s upgraded Sora 2 media generation AI model, the app allows users to create high-definition videos from simple text prompts. After it processes one-time video and audio recordings of users’ likenesses, Sora allows users to embed lifelike “cameos” of themselves, their friends and others who give their permission.

The app is a recipe made for virality. But many of the videos published within the first day of Sora’s debut have also raised alarm bells from copyright and deepfake experts.

Users have so far reported being able to feature video game characters like Lara Croft or Nintendo heavyweights like Mario, Luigi and even Princess Peach in their AI creations.