On Tuesday, Openai announced the release of Sora 2, an audio and video generator that will make last year’s SORA successful. In addition to the model, the company has also launched a linked social app called SORA. Here, users can generate videos of themselves and friends and share them in a Tiktok style algorithm feed. Openai’s work on the new social platform was previously reported by Wired.
Although we have not yet been able to test the Invite-only app and the Sora 2 model, Openai shares an impressive example. In particular, SORA 2 is excellent at following the laws of physics, making videos more realistic. Openai’s public clip depicts beach volleyball games, skateboard tricks, gymnastics routines, and cannonball jumps from a diving board.
“Previous video models are overkills. They morph objects, transform reality and run text prompts well,” Openai wrote in a blog post. “For example, if a basketball player misses a shot, the ball could spontaneously teleport to the hoop. In Sora 2, if a basketball player misses a shot, it rebounds from the backboard.”
The SORA app comes with an “Upload Yourself” feature called “cameo.” This allows users to drop into SORA-generated scenes. To use their own likeness on the generated video, users will need to upload one-time video and audio recordings to see their identity and capture the appearance.
This feature also allows users to share “cameos” with friends and provide other users with permission to include likeness in the video they generate, including videos of multiple people.
“I think this social app built around this ‘cameo’ feature is the best way to experience the magic of Sora 2,” the company wrote.
The Sora iOS app is currently available for download and will initially be deployed in the US and Canada, but Openai wants to quickly expand to other countries. The SORA social platform is currently only invited, but ChATGPT Pro users should be able to try out the SORA 2 Pro models without an invitation.
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Once the video is generated, it can be shared in the feed within the SORA app. This appears to be similar to a Tiktok, Instagram reel, or other short format video feed. Interestingly, Meta announced last week that it had added a video feed called “Vibes” to its Meta AI app (although it’s basically all heartless slops).
To curate algorithm recommendations, OpenAI considers the user’s SORA activity, its location (achieved via IP address), past post engagement, and ChatGPT conversation history, but it turns off. The SORA app also features parent controls via CHATGPT. This allows parents to override the infinite scrolling limit, turn off algorithm personalization, and manage who can send messages to their children. However, these features are as powerful as the technical know-how of the parents.
The SORA app is free at release. Openai says that “people can freely explore their abilities.” At launch, the company said the only plan for monetization is to bill users to generate additional videos when demand is high.
Launching a social platform requires important user safety measures from OpenAI, who is suffering from the same problem with CHATGPT. Users can revoke access to the likeness at any time, but this type of access can be easily abused. Even if a user accesses and trusts people who know AI similarities, they can still generate deceptive content that can be used to harm them. Non-consensual videos are a persistent issue with AI-generated videos, causing serious harm, with few laws expressly controlling platform liability.
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