OpenAI’s New Sora Video Generator to Require Copyright Holders to Opt Out
Executives at the startup notified talent agencies and studios over the last week
- OpenAI plans to release a new Sora video generator that uses copyrighted material unless holders opt out.
- The new product will require copyright holders to explicitly request that their material not be included in Sora-generated videos.
- The video generator will not create images of recognizable public figures without their permission, unlike copyrighted characters.
OpenAI is planning to release a new version of its Sora video generator that creates videos featuring copyrighted material unless copyright holders opt out of having their work appear, according to people familiar with the matter.
OpenAI began alerting talent agencies and studios about the forthcoming product and its opt-out process over the last week and plans to release the new version in the coming days, the people said.
The new opt-out process means that movie studios and other intellectual property owners would have to explicitly ask OpenAI not to include their copyrighted material in videos Sora creates.
While copyrighted characters will require an opt-out, the new product won’t generate images of recognizable public figures without their permission, people familiar with OpenAI’s thinking said.
“Our general approach has been to treat likeness and copyright distinctly,” said Jason Kwon, chief strategy officer of OpenAI.
OpenAI declined to comment on any forthcoming products. People familiar with its policies said any new video generator would have similar copyright guardrails to ChatGPT’s image generator tool, which was released in April.
OpenAI has agreements with some studios to keep its tools from surfacing their copyrighted characters, upon their request, according to some of the people.
The Wall Street Journal’s parent company, News Corp, has a content deal with OpenAI.
OpenAI is competing for users with Google’s Veo 3 AI video generator and other tools that produce clips in a range of styles. Google recently connected Veo 3 to its popular YouTube platform, allowing users to incorporate the technology in short-form videos.