ChatGPT Parent OpenAI Launches Sora, Heavy Traffic Halts New Sign-Ups

ChatGPT parent OpenAI has launched its much-anticipated artificial intelligence video generator, Sora Turbo, as a standalone product for Plus and Pro users as a "holiday gift." Sora was presented in February exclusively for select artists, film-makers and safety testers. However, within a few hours of launch, Sora halts new sign-ups citing heavy traffic.

Sora is a text-to-video generator that is capable of creating AI video clips based on user prompts.

"Now you can generate entirely new videos from text, bring images to life, or extend, remix, or blend videos you already have. We’ve developed new interfaces to allow easier prompting, creative controls, and community sharing," said the platform.

It also said that since previewing Sora in February, the platform has been building Sora Turbo—a significantly faster version of the model for users.

"We hope that this early version of Sora will help people explore new forms of creativity. We can’t wait to see what you create," it added.

Features and Accessibility

Sora features enhanced capabilities that include 1080p resolution, custom aspect ratios, and an interface for fine-tuning videos with text, images, and storyboards.

Sora roll-out excludes the EU and UK due to copyright issues, along with a few other countries, but is being launched in regions where ChatGPT is already available. There will be no extra cost for ChatGPT Plus users for Sora, but it will have monthly limitations. It also limits users under the age of 18.

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Responding to criticism over this type of video AI technology being misused, OpenAI said that it would also initially limit uploads of specific people and also it will block content with nudity.

Competitors

Sora is looking to compete with video-generation AI tools from companies such as Meta and Google, which announced Lumiere in January.

With many other companies such as Amazon's Create and Stability AI’s Stable Video Diffusion, the video format is expected to be the next big thing in the generative AI market.

Earlier, Sora suspended any access to the tool when it got leaked before launch. When a group of artists created a backdoor that would allow anyone to use it. The artists accused OpenAI of “art washing” a product that would steal the livelihood of artists like them, in a statement posted in the AI community site Hugging Face. They called themselves as “Sora PR Puppets” and claimed that the company was trying to spin a positive narrative for its product by associating with creative people.