Google Gemini’s Veo 3 is no longer the only mainstream AI video model with audio generation, thanks to OpenAI’s launch of Sora 2. This new version of Sora can create everything from deepfakes of you and your friends to meme videos, and it comes along with a social platform that I can best describe as an AI version of TikTok. Read further to find out how to start using Sora 2, what it’s capable of, and whether it’s actually worth trying.
What Is Sora?
Sora is ChatGPT’s AI video generation model, but it’s also accessible as a dedicated app separate from ChatGPT. It’s been around for a while, but it couldn’t generate audio or match the quality of Gemini’s Veo 3 model until the recent Sora 2 update.
OpenAI didn’t just update Sora, though; it also updated the Sora app for iOS to turn it into a TikTok workalike for AI-generated videos: You can scroll through an infinite selection of short videos that others have made with Sora, commenting and liking posts as you go.
Where Is Sora Available, and How Do You Access It?
Sora is currently available on iOS and the web, though you can preregister for Sora on Android. However, it’s invite-only at the time of writing. If you have an invite, you can use it on both platforms. According to OpenAI, Sora 2 is initially available for free with generous limits, but I suspect you will eventually have to pay for a premium plan to use it regularly.
If you pay for ChatGPT’s $200-per-month Pro plan, you get access to Sora 2 Pro, which is an experimental, higher-quality version of Sora 2. Sora 2 Pro is currently accessible only on the web, but OpenAI plans to bring it to the iOS app soon.
If you enjoyed using the original Sora, Sora 1 Turbo is still available, along with all the content you generated with it. However, it’s unclear how long this will be the case. Considering the backlash OpenAI experienced after removing legacy models with the release of GPT-5, however, I expect Sora 1 Turbo access to stick around for a while.
What Can (and Can’t) You Do With Sora?
First and foremost, Sora generates AI videos. These can be pretty much anything, such as an anime scene you dream up or a fictional clip of a content creator playing Minecraft. Simply write a prompt, and Sora creates a video in about a minute or two. Once you generate a video, it exists as a draft that you can then publish, making it accessible in Sora’s TikTok-style feed. Creating the perfect AI video can be tough, but we have some advice to help you get started.
Sora has a couple of other interesting features. For one, you can generate videos based on images you upload. You currently can’t create videos based on images with real people, but OpenAI’s documentation strongly implies that capability is coming eventually. Bill Peebles, the head of Sora, also recently announced that more functionality is coming soon to Sora, including the ability to generate videos based on characters. Characters can include your favorite objects, pets, and “pretty much anything else you want.”
(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
In the meantime, you can generate videos of real people with the Cameo system. Essentially, you record a short video clip of your face and voice as your Cameo. Then, you can generate videos with yourself in them. Depending on your privacy settings, you can also allow other people to generate videos with your Cameo. For example, if you want to make a video with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, simply include @sama in your prompt. For instance, “@sama explaining why Sora is better than Veo 3.”
Although Sora prohibits sexual content (unlike Grok’s Imagine AI video model), there’s still a small chance that Sora will generate it anyway. Restrictions don’t stop everyone from producing sexual content with Sora, though. Similarly, Sora restricts any content that it deems violent. You can refer to OpenAI’s guidelines on what you are and aren’t allowed to do with Sora for the specifics. Sora doesn’t allow you to create videos of real people outside of Cameos, even going so far as to crack down on problematic generations, but clips of dead celebrities and historical figures currently dominate Sora. However, OpenAI did ban the use of Martin Luther King Jr’s likeness. Popular Sora videos include Bob Ross and Jesus, among others.
Originally, Sora could produce just 10-second-long videos. However, you can now make 15-second-long videos at no cost, or 25-second-long clips if you pay for ChatGPT Pro (which costs $200 per month).
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First Impressions of Sora: Is It Any Good?
I tested Veo 3 when it launched, and using Sora has been a very similar experience. In short, Sora 2’s AI audio and video quality can be quite good. “Can” is the operative word, though, as it’s easy to encounter distortion and errors in your videos. That said, with a little prompt tweaking and multiple generations, it’s not difficult to make something impressive.
Compared with the original, Sora 2 is much better at rendering complex motion. For example, the original version couldn’t generate a video of someone solving a Rubik’s Cube without major issues. Sora 2, though, does a significantly better job. The audio quality of Sora 2 videos is a bit hit or miss in my experience. Sometimes, it sounds great, but other times, the audio has a robotic, uncanny quality to it. It performs about the same as Veo 3 here.
If you use a Cameo to generate a video of yourself, the results don’t disappoint. It’s hard to describe the vaguely unsettling feeling of seeing a lifelike facsimile of yourself doing and saying things you’ve never done, but it’s undeniably impressive. However, Cameo-based videos aren’t free of the issues I mentioned above, so you still need to do some prompt engineering and run through multiple generations to make something really believable.
Sora’s App: AI TikTok
The Sora app is unique in the AI video space. (Veo 3 doesn’t offer any sort of social component.) OpenAI is actively working to transform the Sora app into the TikTok of AI-generated videos. Some of these videos are undeniably amusing, and I appreciate the ability to comment on them as well. Still, it’s hard to appreciate that function too much when the majority of the comments are some variation of “wow” or someone begging for followers, at least at the time of writing.
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(Credit: OpenAI/PCMag)
I’m grateful that OpenAI created a social media platform for AI-generated videos, as it may help reduce the AI-generated slop content I see on my TikTok and YouTube Short feeds. But, on the other hand, while some of the technology at play here is cool, I can’t help but wonder what the point of it all is: Is the ability to generate AI meme videos really worth building 60 football fields’ worth of AI infrastructure every week or uprooting rural families?
Is Your Data Safe With Sora?
Since Sora is an OpenAI product, your data is as safe as it is with ChatGPT. In its privacy policy, OpenAI outlines how it collects significant amounts of data and uses that data to train its models by default. OpenAI doesn’t specifically mention Sora in its privacy policy, so there’s little reason to believe that it handles Sora-related data in a meaningfully different way.
How well does OpenAI secure the data it collects? Not very. For example, someone hacked OpenAI in 2023, news of which only broke in 2024, while OpenAI remains a target for hackers. Similarly, Sam Altman has said that your conversations with ChatGPT can be used against you in court, which isn’t very encouraging from a privacy perspective, even if it’s not surprising. In general, I don’t recommend sharing anything too sensitive with OpenAI.
When it comes to your facial and voice data within Sora, OpenAI tells PCMag that “uploaded Cameos are kept by OpenAI to use for new Sora videos, and are encrypted at rest and in transit.” It also says that “uploads are automatically deleted within 30 days after users delete them.” OpenAI recently added the ability to delete your Sora account separately from your ChatGPT account. Previously, you had to delete both if you wanted to remove either.
Should You Use Sora?
Just as with Grok’s NSFW anime companions, you should check out Sora if you’re looking for a little entertainment and want to see what’s possible with the technology. Assuming you have an invitation, of course. Beyond that, though, it’s hard to see Sora as much more than a curiosity. Sure, you can create some meme videos to send your friends, but it likely only takes so many AI videos before you and your buddies move on to something more exciting.
People are already weaponizing Sora, and a world where you can create lifelike videos, with audio, of anything in just a minute or two, for free, is a world where seeing is not believing. So, I suggest never taking any video clips you see online too seriously, unless they come from a source you can absolutely trust.
About Our Expert
Ruben Circelli
Writer, Software
Experience
I’ve been writing about consumer technology and video games for over a decade at a variety of publications, including Destructoid, GamesRadar+, Lifewire, PCGamesN, Trusted Reviews, and What Hi-Fi?, among many others. At PCMag, I review AI and productivity software—everything from chatbots to to-do list apps. In my free time, I’m likely cooking something, playing a game, or tinkering with my computer.
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