What is Sora? ChatGPT for Video Content by OpenAI
The world of content creation just got a major speed boost. If ChatGPT redefined text, get ready for Sora by OpenAI to do the same for video.
Launched as a standalone social app, Sora is a revolutionary text-to-video model that converts simple ideas into realistic, cinematic clips. It’s a tool that takes the barrier of complicated video production and removes it completely, allowing content creators to bring complex visual concepts to life with a text prompt. And it’s already a massive hit, with the BBC reporting that the app has already been downloaded over a million times.
For anyone who relies on video to connect with their audience, understanding what is Sora AI and how it works is essential for future planning.
What is Sora AI?
Simply put, OpenAI Sora is an artificial intelligence model that creates realistic videos from a written description. It’s an advanced AI video generator built using the foundation of diffusion transformer technology, similar to what powers DALL-E for images, but adapted for motion.
The current version, Sora 2, launched on September 30, 2025, and is focused on generating short, high-quality video clips, often in a vertical format perfect for platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.
The core ability of Sora is its power to simulate the physical world and follow complex instructions. This means it can generate videos that include:
- Detailed Scenes: Multiple characters, specific backgrounds, and objects.
- Intricate Motion: Realistic movement that maintains consistency throughout the clip.
- Cinematic Styles: Applying visual qualities like camera angle, lighting, and film style.
- Synchronized Audio: Generating sound and dialogue to match the visuals.
How to Use Sora AI for Content Creation
The accessibility of the Sora app is what makes it stand out from other AI video editors. You don’t need an editing suite or a camera crew; you only need your imagination and a clear text prompt.
Here is a simple breakdown of how to use Sora AI once you have access:
1. Download and Sign In
The primary way to use the tool is via the official Sora app on iOS or Android. You sign in using your existing OpenAI account credentials.
2. Write Your Prompt
Tap the ‘+’ button to start a new video. The quality of your video depends entirely on the clarity of your prompt.
Instead of writing “dog running,” you might write: “A golden retriever puppy with a bright red bandana is running joyfully through a field of purple wildflowers at sunset. The camera is following the dog at a low angle with warm, soft lighting and the sound of birds chirping.”
Sora’s AI will interpret these details to generate a video that matches the specific scene, motion, and audio you requested.
3. Use Images or Remix Existing Videos
You have two other powerful creative options in the Sora by OpenAI application:
Start from an Image: Upload a still image (like a product photo or a personal portrait) and ask Sora to animate it, adding movement and bringing the static image to life.
Remix: This social feature enables you to take an existing video post in the app and modify it, such as changing the background, swapping a character, or adjusting the artistic style.
4. Wait for Generation and Refine
Sora will then create your video. If the result isn’t exactly what you wanted, you can quickly adjust your text prompt or select a different style and try again. The ability to iterate quickly is a huge advantage for rapidly testing concepts.
Beyond the Basics: Sora’s Social Features
OpenAI has designed Sora as a community-driven experience, moving it closer to social platforms like TikTok than traditional AI tools.
A key feature is Cameo, which allows users to create an AI-generated version of themselves (with opt-in consent) and insert that likeness into videos created by others. This encourages co-creation and personalized content, making it easier for users to jump on trends or challenges by casting themselves in a ready-made video.
Sora also embeds C2PA metadata and a visible watermark on all generated videos. This helps users and platforms distinguish between human-made content and content created using the AI model.
The introduction of OpenAI Sora fundamentally changes the content creation process. As the model continues to roll out and evolve, its full potential for marketing, storytelling, and rapid content testing will only continue to grow.
Sora Ethical Issues
Despite the excitement created by the launch of Sora 2, it has also raised several ethical concerns.
Copyright Concerns
The release of OpenAI’s Sora 2 video generation tool has immediately ignited significant ethical and legal controversies, primarily surrounding copyright infringement, the proliferation of deepfakes, and the future of creative industries. Upon its launch in October 2025, users quickly generated videos featuring popular, copyrighted characters like Pikachu, SpongeBob, and Rick and Morty. This was facilitated by the app’s initial policy, which required copyright holders to opt out to prevent their intellectual property (IP) from being generated, a stance that drew fierce criticism from rights holders, including the Motion Picture Association. In response to the backlash, OpenAI rapidly reversed its policy just days after launch, shifting to a more creator-friendly opt-in model for characters and promising to give rights holders more granular control over how their IP is used. Furthermore, OpenAI is exploring a revenue-sharing model to compensate creators who permit their characters to be used, signaling a potential new precedent for AI-generated fan fiction.
Deepfake Drama
The issue of deepfakes and the misuse of personal likeness has also been a major flashpoint. The app’s “cameo” feature allows users to generate videos of themselves or others who have consented, but its powerful, realistic generation capabilities have raised widespread fears of malicious deepfakes and misinformation. Users quickly shared controversial content, including fake CCTV footage of CEO Sam Altman shoplifting and videos of public figures, despite OpenAI’s attempts to implement guardrails. To address this, OpenAI has strengthened its safeguards, requiring explicit consent for real-person likenesses and implementing customizable “cameo restrictions” that allow individuals to specify scenarios or keywords to block, such as use in political videos. However, critics note that users have already found ways to remove the visible watermarks intended to signal a video’s AI origin, which undermines a key safety measure.
The Future Fight
Beyond the specific features, the overarching ethical issues center on the erosion of trust, creative compensation, and the nature of consent in the digital age. The ease of generating hyper-realistic, fabricated content, from world events to personal actions, threatens to destabilize public trust in video evidence and news, leading to the rapid spread of synthetic news and impersonation. For content creators, the controversy reignites the fundamental debate over whether AI models were trained on vast amounts of copyrighted material without proper compensation, effectively allowing major tech firms to profit from the uncompensated labor of human artists. The initial “opt-out” policy was seen by critics as an unethical shifting of the legal and financial burden onto creators, forcing them to police the platform to protect their own work. The growing anxiety among actors and creative professionals (as well as families of those who have died), highlighted by Hollywood agencies, is that AI could soon displace their livelihoods by creating digital replicas of their likenesses and characters without consent or financial return, thereby questioning the long-term viability and integrity of human-led creative industries.
