Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI Shuts Down Sora, Killing $1B Disney Deal

Was Sora's shutdown a disappointing loss or a long-overdue end to an AI slop machine?

Published MAR 25

#Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI Shuts Down Sora, Killing $1B Disney Deal

Story

Above: The Sora app on a smartphone screen in the Apple App Store in Ontario, Canada, on Feb. 24. Image credit: Thomas Fuller/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The Facts

OpenAI announced on Tuesday that it is shutting down its Sora AI video app, less than two years after its launch in 2024, as the firm directs resources to other priorities to "help people solve real-world, physical tasks."
The Straits Times
CBS News
The AI company unveiled the news on Sora's social media account, stating that it understood it was "disappointing," before promising to share additional details, including timelines for the app and API, as well as information on preserving users' work.
Sora on X
In a statement to multiple media outlets, OpenAI added that the Sora team would shift its attention to other areas, principally robotics. The development comes as OpenAI focuses on a new AI model called Spud, as well as on consolidating the ChatGPT chatbot, coding tool and browser into a single application.
BBC News
The Wall Street Journal
Verge
Sherwood News
The closure terminates a $1 billion agreement between OpenAI and Disney, announced in December 2025, under which Disney planned to license more than 200 characters for use in the app. The deal never closed, however, and no money ever changed hands.
Openai
Financial Times
The Hollywood Reporter
The decision, nevertheless, caught Disney off guard, with people familiar with the matter telling Reuters that Disney teams were working with OpenAI on a Sora-linked project on Monday evening, only to be informed 30 minutes later that OpenAI was discontinuing the tool.
Reuters
Sora's end follows criticism over its potential to generate deepfakes and nonconsensual images, as well as copyright infringement, which required OpenAI to add controls after an outcry over AI-generated videos of public figures, including Michael Jackson and Martin Luther King Jr.
Al Jazeera
ABC Australia
Daily Wire
Sam Altman

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Sora built a real, creative community, and shutting it down is undoubtedly disappointing news for the people who invested time and energy into it. The platform, however, will do its utmost to serve its users and provide them with the clarity they need moving forward, including information on how long the app and API will remain functional, and how to preserve their work.

Sora on X

Narrative B

Sora was an AI slop machine masquerading as creativity, and its shutdown could not have come any sooner. As a product, it represented the worst impulses of the AI economy — flooding the internet with low-effort generated content that undermined the contributions of real human artistry. Good riddance to a platform that never should have existed in the first place.