Wednesday, 1 October 2025

OpenAI just dropped Sora — a social app that lets you bring your friends into videos with AI magic!

 

“OpenAI just dropped Sora — a social app that lets you bring your friends into videos with AI magic!”

     OpenAI today unveiled Sora, a social video platform powered by its new Sora 2 model, which enables users to generate, remix, and share AI-generated short videos — and even insert themselves or their friends into those videos via an AI “cameo” feature.


A logo with black text

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

 

What is Sora & what it can do

  • The Sora app is currently available on iOS (invite-only) in the U.S. and Canada.
  • It is built around the Sora 2 video generation model, which is designed to produce more physically consistent, realistic motion and synchronized audio than prior video models.
  • In Sora, users can:

·       Start from a text prompt or upload an image to generate videos in different styles (cinematic, anime, surreal, photorealistic).

·       Use “cameos” that let you drop your own likeness (after a one-time video/audio capture) into AI scenes. You can also permit your friends to use your likeness.

·       Remix or re-generate videos created by others, creating collaborative and iterative content.

·  Browse a vertical “feed” much like TikTok, with algorithmic recommendations.

Why this matters — and potential opportunities

  • With Sora, OpenAI is attempting to move AI video generation from a niche research demo into a social, interactive experience
  • The cameo feature is novel in that it gives users control over their digital likeness — you can allow or revoke access to others who want to insert you into generated videos.
  • By making the app invite-based and region-limited initially, OpenAI may be trying to slow-roll adoption and monitor moderation, misuse, and content quality.
  • It positions Sora as a competitor to short-form video platforms (TikTok, Reels, Shorts), but with a twist: all content is AI-generated, not user-uploaded.

Risks, challenges & controversies

  • Deepfake / misuse concerns: Because Sora allows insertion of likenesses (with consent), critics warn about potential misuse, identity abuse, or unauthorized deepfakes.
  • Copyright & content sourcing: OpenAI has adopted a default “use unless opt-out” approach for copyrighted content in video generation, which has already drawn criticism from rights holders.
  • Content moderation issues: Ensuring harmful, extremist, or illegal videos are blocked is a major challenge at scale
  • Authenticity fatigue: As Sora’s content saturates feeds, the boundary between “real” and “AI-made” may blur, raising trust and misinformation concerns.
  • Bias and representation: As with many generative models, Sora may reflect biases from training data (e.g. gender, race) in how it portrays people or scenarios.

 

More link: https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/openai-launches-new-social-app-sora-lets-you-add-friends-to-videos-using-ai-2796009-2025-10-01