Sora Shutting Down & Disney’s Billion-Dollar Open AI Investment Is Dead

Disney‘s much heralded $1 billion investment in Open AI is over as the Sam Altman-led tech giant will be shuttering its standalone Sora text-to-video app
“The deal is not moving forward,” an insider tells Deadline of the agreement then House of Mouse CEO Bob Iger reached last year with Altman. It is unclear how much of the $1 billion Disney had handed over to the IPO inclined Open AI and when and how they would be getting the money back — if at all.
Right now, as the increasingly consumer facing Open AI looks to move to a mega-app, Sora is still functioning – with Disney characters available.
The big bucks injection late last year from Disney looked to reset the IP battle between artificial intelligence and Hollywood by permitting iconic characters from Frozen, Star Wars and the Marvel multiverse to be used on the generative AI video app.
Today, that all went in the digital trash as Open AI said it was pulling the plug on Sora.
“We’re saying goodbye to Sora,” the company declared online.
“To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you,” Open AI added, reducing its so-called game changer to ” What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing. We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work.”
Officially, the now Josh D’Amaro-run Disney Tuesday took a turn the other cheek approach to the news
“As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere,” a company spokesperson said after Open AI dropped its news. “We appreciate the constructive collaboration between our teams and what we learned from it, and we will continue to engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans where they are while responsibly embracing new technologies that respect IP and the rights of creators.”
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