Why OpenAI killed Sora

OpenAI abruptly scrapped its Sora video-generation app and halted its integration into ChatGPT, alongside winding down a major $1 billion Disney deal, as the company shifts focus toward achieving profitability and reducing financial losses. Industry sources suggest Sora was lagging behind competitors like Google and Kling in innovation, offering little competitive advantage despite its initial buzz. Furthermore, the model consumed significant, expensive computational power without justifying the financial return, especially as OpenAI faces intense competition from Anthropic and Google and reportedly plans an IPO. Executives emphasized the need to "nail productivity" and back off "side quests" like Sora to focus on core business and AI agent goals, which involve world simulation research for robotics. The rapid cancellation also surprised Disney, though the entertainment giant remains open to licensing agreements with other video AI firms. Critics noted that while the app is gone, Sora normalized a level of hyper-realistic content uncertainty with long-lasting implications for discerning reality.

(Source：The Verge)