By: Serena Edwards
A contractual media deal between OpenAI and Disney has seemingly ended in the midst of the recent shutdown of the video-generative app, Sora.
OpenAI is an artificial intelligence company known for creating apps such as ChatGPT.
“Our mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity,” according to OpenAI.
The contract between Disney and OpenAI was a three-year agreement, under which Sora users have access to Disney’s animation library, including Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar characters.
The video-generating app Sora was a smaller application built by OpenAI to create AI-generated short-form videos. The app was created in Feb. 2024 and has been used by many professional companies and social media platforms as well.
“Sora will be able to generate short, user-prompted social videos that can be viewed and shared by fans, drawing from a set of more than 200 animated, masked, and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars, including costumes, props, vehicles, and iconic environments,” according to a press release from OpenAI.
Alongside the contractual agreement, Disney would also become a consumer of OpenAI, using their Application Programming Interface (API) for its streaming platform, Disney+, and other Disney products.
API is used to help programming software communicate with each other using specific coding.
The licensing partnership also included a $1 billion investment from the Disney Corporation, giving them permission to buy additional equity in OpenAI.
The partnership aimed to combat recent controversy about the ethical implications of creatives using AI.
“This agreement shows how AI companies and creative leaders can work together responsibly to promote innovation that benefits society, respect the importance of creativity, and help works reach vast new audiences,” said Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI.
The fate of Sora was up for debate behind the scenes for some time, with the parent company looking to focus on bigger projects.
OpenAI dismantled Sora to open itself up to ventures into other areas of artificial intelligence, with the company “rolling more of its capabilities into a single super-app,” according to Reuters.
Shared on X, Sora shared a statement discussing this closure.
“We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built a community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.”
A source shared with Reuters how Disney was not aware of the app’s closure until the public statement was released. Despite this allegation, the deal between the two companies was never financially finalized.
Netizens took to social media to express their opinions on the partnership overall.
“They have all this money available to them, literally more money than any person could figure out what to do with, and instead of hiring qualified animators… they use cheap and poor quality AI,” said one responder.
Other responders expressed support for AI and how it can be used as an effective tool.
“I used to work for an AI company and use AI in my day job and site business, it’s an amazing tool for those who understand its limitations”, a netizen said.
Though Disney has closed its chapter with OpenAI, they are not hesitant to stop looking into AI ventures, as reported by The New York Times (NYT),
“Disney said it would continue to explore partnerships with A.I. companies willing to license its intellectual property.”