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I thought AI video was the future? Now the biggest AI company in the world is straight up shutting their service down because it's too expensive? Simply a disas

I thought AI video was the future? Now the biggest AI company in the world is straight up shutting their service down because it's too expensive? Simply a disaster for OpenAI and the industry as a whole.

paxys 7mo ago
It may very well be the future, but in the present OpenAI has to make money.
- bloppe 7mo ago
  I sure hope not, otherwise they're screwed
  - oblio 7mo ago
    > they're screwed Fixed that for you :-)
deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
BoredPositron 7mo ago
It's the timeline of AI video that doesn't align with OpenAI. It's still far away for prompt to movie and they don't want to be another tool in the pipe for VFX because it doesn't pay. Other models are running circles around them because they focused on the needs of professionals in the space and not toys.
atleastoptimal 7mo ago
Every flop used for entertainment is opportunity cost. Compute is far more valuable used internally to create AGI than creating parody videos.
- emp17344 7mo ago
  Too bad they aren’t doing either!
- wongarsu 7mo ago
  Wasn't video generation one of their big stepping stones towards AGI? "Simulating worlds", reasoning about physics and real world interactions and all that? Or are they still doing that behind the scenes and just decided that offering it to the public isn't profitable?
  - atleastoptimal 7mo ago
    probably the latter imo, it’s not like they are going to delete all their SORA work
  - MasterScrat 7mo ago
    > As we focus and compute demand grows, the Sora research team continues to focus on world simulation research to advance robotics that will help people solve real-world, physical tasks. — https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-discontinues-sora-video-app-amid-robotics-shift-compute-limitations-2026-3 https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-discontinues-sora-vid... So yeah, focusing on world models
- SirensOfTitan 7mo ago
  AGI is a marketing term used to encourage continued investment in an industry that is not even close to breaking even commensurate with its investment. Even so, this is a false dichotomy: scaling is clearly not a path on its own to superintelligence. OpenAI developed Sora largely because the amount of revenue they need to produce any return on investment is massive and not clear whatsoever. And in fact, I don't even believe any of the frontier labs believe that AGI by any conventional definition is within reach within their likely runways.
  - atleastoptimal 7mo ago
    what order of magnitude of compute do you think would be needed for AGI? 100 billion? 1 trillion?
gffrd 7mo ago
They're shutting down Sora, not AI-generated video. From the article: "OpenAI […] is not getting out of the AI video business (AI video is one of many tools that can take form in the ChatGPT app), of course, but it appears the standalone Sora app will be a casualty of its evolving ambitions."
- lxgr 7mo ago
  Is it still accessible in any of their apps, though? I don’t see it in ChatGPT.
- wongarsu 7mo ago
  If they were just shutting down the dedicated app and offering the same capabilities in the ChatGPT interface, I don't see why Disney would exit their deal?
  - Maxatar 7mo ago
    Because Disney's deal was specifically and exclusively related to Sora, which was OpenAI's bizzare attempt at a TikTok like social networking site but using AI generated videos. It was not a deal that allowed the use of Disney's characters for general purpose AI generated content using OpenAI tools.
- bontaq 7mo ago
  Dunno, from the WSJ scoop: "CEO Sam Altman announced the changes to staff on Tuesday, writing that the company would wind down products that use its video models. In addition to the consumer app, OpenAI is also discontinuing a version of Sora for developers and won’t support video functionality inside ChatGPT, either." https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-set-to-discontinue-sora-video-platform-app-a82a9e4e https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-set-to-discontinue-sora-v... https://archive.ph/cKWkf#selection-907.0-907.291 https://archive.ph/cKWkf#selection-907.0-907.291
Maxatar 7mo ago
Sora was "repurposed" as their AI slop social network. OpenAI is not getting out of the business of AI video in general, they're just realizing that an AI version of TikTok isn't the best use of their capital/resources.
- oro44 7mo ago
  [flagged]
  - cindyllm 7mo ago
    [dead]
  - brokencode 7mo ago
    Smart people do stupid things all the time. Especially when they are moving fast and trying new things. At least they were able to recognize their mistake and course correct.
- gbear605 7mo ago
  WSJ is reporting that they're entirely dropping their video gen features. https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-set-to-discontinue-sora-video-platform-app-a82a9e4e https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-set-to-discontinue-sora-v... > CEO Sam Altman announced the changes to staff on Tuesday, writing that the company would wind down products that use its video models. In addition to the consumer app, OpenAI is also discontinuing a version of Sora for developers and won’t support video functionality inside ChatGPT, either.
deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
anukin 7mo ago
Don’t worry nvidia will come with their giga chad 9000x which will run the model with no qualms.
elif 7mo ago
i think that's a mis-statement of the problem being addressed here. It's not a question of how useful AI video will be generally. It's a question of OpenAI doing it specifically. IMO it's two factors: 1) the intellectual property issues make commercializing freeform video generation impossible. The more popular your service becomes, the easier it is for lawyers to descend upon you. It's a self-defeating framework. 2) google and specialized video-only startups are simply doing a much better job than they were.
- oblio 7mo ago
  > the intellectual property issues make commercializing freeform video generation impossible. The more popular your service becomes, the easier it is for lawyers to descend upon you. It's a self-defeating framework. This risks generalizing to audio and text which would make most LLMs usage unsustainable. I guess time will tell what actually goes through the strainer, long term.
- k3k3 7mo ago
  ---- 3) OpenAI has no focus, and has recently been out-gunned by Anthropic who have actually focused.

paxys 7mo ago

It may very well be the future, but in the present OpenAI has to make money.

bloppe 7mo ago
I sure hope not, otherwise they're screwed
- oblio 7mo ago
  > they're screwed Fixed that for you :-)

deleted 7mo ago

[deleted]

BoredPositron 7mo ago

It's the timeline of AI video that doesn't align with OpenAI. It's still far away for prompt to movie and they don't want to be another tool in the pipe for VFX because it doesn't pay. Other models are running circles around them because they focused on the needs of professionals in the space and not toys.

atleastoptimal 7mo ago

Every flop used for entertainment is opportunity cost. Compute is far more valuable used internally to create AGI than creating parody videos.

emp17344 7mo ago
Too bad they aren’t doing either!
wongarsu 7mo ago
Wasn't video generation one of their big stepping stones towards AGI? "Simulating worlds", reasoning about physics and real world interactions and all that? Or are they still doing that behind the scenes and just decided that offering it to the public isn't profitable?
- atleastoptimal 7mo ago
  probably the latter imo, it’s not like they are going to delete all their SORA work
- MasterScrat 7mo ago
  > As we focus and compute demand grows, the Sora research team continues to focus on world simulation research to advance robotics that will help people solve real-world, physical tasks. — https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-discontinues-sora-video-app-amid-robotics-shift-compute-limitations-2026-3 https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-discontinues-sora-vid... So yeah, focusing on world models
SirensOfTitan 7mo ago
AGI is a marketing term used to encourage continued investment in an industry that is not even close to breaking even commensurate with its investment. Even so, this is a false dichotomy: scaling is clearly not a path on its own to superintelligence. OpenAI developed Sora largely because the amount of revenue they need to produce any return on investment is massive and not clear whatsoever. And in fact, I don't even believe any of the frontier labs believe that AGI by any conventional definition is within reach within their likely runways.
- atleastoptimal 7mo ago
  what order of magnitude of compute do you think would be needed for AGI? 100 billion? 1 trillion?

gffrd 7mo ago

They're shutting down Sora, not AI-generated video. From the article: "OpenAI […] is not getting out of the AI video business (AI video is one of many tools that can take form in the ChatGPT app), of course, but it appears the standalone Sora app will be a casualty of its evolving ambitions."

lxgr 7mo ago
Is it still accessible in any of their apps, though? I don’t see it in ChatGPT.
wongarsu 7mo ago
If they were just shutting down the dedicated app and offering the same capabilities in the ChatGPT interface, I don't see why Disney would exit their deal?
- Maxatar 7mo ago
  Because Disney's deal was specifically and exclusively related to Sora, which was OpenAI's bizzare attempt at a TikTok like social networking site but using AI generated videos. It was not a deal that allowed the use of Disney's characters for general purpose AI generated content using OpenAI tools.
bontaq 7mo ago
Dunno, from the WSJ scoop: "CEO Sam Altman announced the changes to staff on Tuesday, writing that the company would wind down products that use its video models. In addition to the consumer app, OpenAI is also discontinuing a version of Sora for developers and won’t support video functionality inside ChatGPT, either." https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-set-to-discontinue-sora-video-platform-app-a82a9e4e https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-set-to-discontinue-sora-v... https://archive.ph/cKWkf#selection-907.0-907.291 https://archive.ph/cKWkf#selection-907.0-907.291

Maxatar 7mo ago

Sora was "repurposed" as their AI slop social network. OpenAI is not getting out of the business of AI video in general, they're just realizing that an AI version of TikTok isn't the best use of their capital/resources.

oro44 7mo ago
[flagged]
- cindyllm 7mo ago
  [dead]
- brokencode 7mo ago
  Smart people do stupid things all the time. Especially when they are moving fast and trying new things. At least they were able to recognize their mistake and course correct.
gbear605 7mo ago
WSJ is reporting that they're entirely dropping their video gen features. https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-set-to-discontinue-sora-video-platform-app-a82a9e4e https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-set-to-discontinue-sora-v... > CEO Sam Altman announced the changes to staff on Tuesday, writing that the company would wind down products that use its video models. In addition to the consumer app, OpenAI is also discontinuing a version of Sora for developers and won’t support video functionality inside ChatGPT, either.

deleted 7mo ago

[deleted]

anukin 7mo ago

Don’t worry nvidia will come with their giga chad 9000x which will run the model with no qualms.

elif 7mo ago

i think that's a mis-statement of the problem being addressed here. It's not a question of how useful AI video will be generally. It's a question of OpenAI doing it specifically. IMO it's two factors: 1) the intellectual property issues make commercializing freeform video generation impossible. The more popular your service becomes, the easier it is for lawyers to descend upon you. It's a self-defeating framework. 2) google and specialized video-only startups are simply doing a much better job than they were.

oblio 7mo ago
> the intellectual property issues make commercializing freeform video generation impossible. The more popular your service becomes, the easier it is for lawyers to descend upon you. It's a self-defeating framework. This risks generalizing to audio and text which would make most LLMs usage unsustainable. I guess time will tell what actually goes through the strainer, long term.
k3k3 7mo ago
---- 3) OpenAI has no focus, and has recently been out-gunned by Anthropic who have actually focused.