Sora 2, OpenAI’s latest text-to-video generator, is all about creating silly, surreal and fun videos meant to go viral. But for Hollywood, the stakes couldn’t be more serious.
That’s because many of the videos being created by Sora 2, which users can share on a new TikTok-like platform accompanying the generator, contain mash-ups of characters, designs and other recognizable elements from key studio intellectual properties such as Star Wars, SpongeBob and Pokémon — some doing questionable things — raising questions about how much control they’ll be able to retain in the brave new AI world.
There are other text-to-video engines out there – Google’s Veo 3 is another powerful option and on Tuesday, Elon Musk’s xAI unveiled Imagine v0.9 – but what stuck out was OpenAI’s decision to require movie studios and other IP owners to opt out of having their work featured on the platform. And while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman walked some of the policy back within a few days, the whole episode was indicative of the aggressive posture AI companies have taken with IP that isn’t theirs.
The incident underscores the uneasy relationship between AI companies like OpenAI and the Hollywood studios, which at times is symbiotic and others exploitative. Media companies are increasingly relying on AI tools to do business and need to have a working relationship with companies like OpenAI. But at the same time, they have to deal with the fallout of AI players who are moving with more speed than thought.
“A theme for AI companies has been that it’s better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission,” said Steven Stein, a partner in Greenberg Glusker’s entertainment and IP litigation groups. “When racing to get a product out to grab market share, you’re not going to do all the legal due diligence you normally would do.”
The studios are taking this seriously. Warner Bros. Discovery has already flagged to OpenAI its IP being used despite copyright guardrails, noting “Rick & Morty” characters are on the platform, according to a person familiar with the company. Disney sent a letter to the company telling it to exclude all Disney IP from Sora.
“OpenAI’s copying, distribution, public display, and/or public performance of Disney’s copyrighted works and characters without authorization is copyright infringement, and Disney is not required to “opt out” of inclusion of its works in Sora/Sora 2 or any other OAI system to preserve or pursue its rights under copyright law,” the letter read.
The stance that OpenAI has taken with Sora 2 is different from when the original video generator launched in December 2024. At the time, there was some initial thought that Sora might have a role in production, although that was dismissed as the generated videos lacked the polish required for shows and movies. But with Sora 2, which is leaning more on a social experience with user-generated content, OpenAI appears to be signaling it’s through with trying to be part of the Hollywood pipeline.
“(OpenAI) doesn’t want to build tools to help create,” said Bryn Mooser, co-founder of AI studio Asteria. “They just want to use your IP to sell TikTok-like viral memes. That’s a different relationship that goes from partnership to extraction.”
Where TikTok and AI slop meet
A few days before Sora 2 was announced, OpenAI gave studios and other rights holders a heads up about the generator and its opt-out policy, according to The Wall Street Journal. The problem with the opt-out method was studios or talent agencies couldn’t just request a blanket removal of content, instead requiring requests on an individual basis — an onerous and time-intensive task that no company is equipped to do.
After launching a week ago, Sora quickly shot to the top of Apple’s App Store and remains the top free app (besting OpenAI’s ChatGPT). Fairly quickly, a flood of short, 10-second videos emerged that ranged from nonsensical to unhinged — an early popular format found people putting characters like SpongeBob Squarepants in bodycam police footage at a traffic stop, spouting expletives before speeding away.
Imagine Twitter or TikTok without the real-world constraints of shooting video. In other words, a lot of AI slop that Vox called “an unholy abomination.” Within a day, 404Media flagged videos that included “Nazi SpongeBobs and criminal Pikachus.”
By Friday, OpenAI began to backtrack and add more guardrails preventing specific IP to be used.
“We will give rightsholders more granular control over generation of characters, similar to the opt-in model for likeness but with additional controls,” Altman said in a blog post. “We are hearing from a lot of rightsholders who are very excited for this new kind of ‘interactive fan fiction’ and think this new kind of engagement will accrue a lot of value to them, but want the ability to specify how their characters can be used (including not at all).”
@ai_untangled Made using Sora 2. This would be impressive even for a highly skilled human. The future is about to get so weird 🤔 #fyp #spongebob #ai #sora2 ♬ original sound – AI Untangled
In a nod to OpenAI’s potential work with the studios, Altman teased a plan to share revenue with shareholders who let their characters be generated by users, but noted, “We are going to have to somehow make money for video generation” first.
A spokesman for OpenAI didn’t respond to TheWrap’s request for further comment on the changes and its relationship with the studios.
Altman warned that there would be edge cases where some AI generations would get through Sora 2’s new filters, and said that getting them to work properly would take some iteration.
The steps weren’t sufficient for the Motion Picture Association, which on Monday called on OpenAI to take “immediate and decisive action” in addressing copyright infringements.
After the guardrails were put up on Friday, a slew of reaction videos emerged from users criticizing the move and pushing for unfettered access to the previous IP. One video had Martin Luther King Jr. calling for an end to the blocks.
But even using Sora 2 after the new guardrails were put in place, it didn’t take long for me to generate a video with a dancing Godzilla in the background, or flying through a Death Star trench-like setting with actual TIE Fighters in pursuit. (Toho and Disney, don’t sue me.)
Other videos that were still up employed “South Park”-style animation and the look and feel of being inside “Grand Theft Auto V.” Bob Ross was featured in a number of videos spouting nonsensical and even offensive comments.
And they get weirder from there.
Coming to a head
As Mooser sees it, the studios are at an inflection point where they may need to take stronger steps to protect their IP.
“Do we as an industry figure out how to usher in this technology in a way that honors our process, or do we open the floodgates and surrender?” Mooser said.
One option is the legal route, in which media companies have taken action against some AI players. Disney, Universal and later Warner Bros. Discovery sued Midjourney for enabling its model to generate imagery that mirrors its own characters, whether it’s Elsa from “Frozen” or the Minions from “Despicable Me.” Last week, Disney sent Character.AI, which lets users chat with AI-powered bots, a cease-and-desist letter forcing the startup to pull copyrighted Disney characters from its service.
Stein noted that the Sora 2 videos are doing the same thing that Midjourney was sued for. But it’s unclear whether the studios will go after OpenAI. WBD, for instance, declined to comment on potential legal action over Sora 2.
Spokespeople for the other major studios didn’t respond to requests for comment about their thoughts on Sora 2.
@ai_with_erick This is too good. Here’s the Prompt Used 👇 Realistic body cam footage of a police officer pulling over Super Mario in his mario cart. It was a serious offense, so the cop is extremely angry and tries to open the door of the car before Mario speeds away quickly. #sora2 #aivideo #aifunny #mariokart #policechase ♬ original sound – AI with Erick
The other option is finding a way to work together while better incorporating the use of studio IP, a path the AI companies are likely keen to embrace. That could include some level of revenue sharing, as Altman suggested, alongside stronger safeguards to prevent Pikachu from shoplifting Poké Balls from CVS.
“At the end of the day, it is not worth pissing off studios for companies like Google, OpenAI and Meta,” said Yves Bergquist, director of the USC Entertainment Technology Center’s “AI in Media” program. “They have a much bigger interest in having a good relationship with media companies.”
Jeremy Fuster contributed to this story.
