OpenAI is shutting down Sora
Less than six months after launching it, OpenAI has announced it will shut down its AI video app Sora. The company said that it will share additional information about the timeline of the shutdown and details for users who would want to preserve their videos from the app.
We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. 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…
— Sora (@soraofficialapp) March 24, 2026
While OpenAI didn’t go into detail, a Wall Street Journal report says that the company is winding down its AI efforts, not just the app. The company is also discontinuing the developer version of Sora, and it won’t support video functionality inside the main ChatGPT app, either.
Disney pulls out its $1 billion investment plan
At launch, Sora attracted a lot of controversy over the use of copyrighted content inside some of the videos users generated in the app. That forced OpenAI to introduce controls that allowed copyright owners to block the use of their intellectual property on the app.
As a response to the way users interacted with the app, Disney announced it would invest $1 billion in OpenAI. Part of the investment deal was the licensing of over 200 characters so users could create AI-generated videos with them. Today, Disney said it won’t proceed with the investment agreement.
As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere.
Disney spokesperson, March 2026
Good riddance
One of the worst parts of the AI revolution is that the internet is now full of AI slop of all types. Killing Sora won’t save us from that, but I hope it sends out a signal that AI is almost never the best option, especially when it comes to social media content.
