By Ben Soltau
The controversial and infamous AI video creation app Sora – recently shut down by Open AI, causing Disney to pull out of its $1 billion deal with the app – may have risen again in a brand-new form.
In late March the official Sora X account released a statement bidding goodbye to the app: “To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.”
Disney’s three-year licensing agreement with Open AI would have allowed Sora users to create AI videos with over 200 of their licensed characters. Disney would have also become a major customer of Open AI, using their APIs in their operation.
Lastly, Disney would have made a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI, additionally receiving warrants to purchase further equity.
“We respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere,” said a Disney spokesperson, further expressing a willingness to engage with other AI platforms in the future.
While quite a few AI fans, commentators, and officials were in mourning, many critics celebrated the end of the app as a win, criticising the plagiaristic and “slop” nature of generative AI, as well as the substantial environmental impact of the technology.
Sora AI had previously faced many legal challenges in relation to the generation of content protected by copyright, as well as the generation of non-consensual imagery, and mass dis/misinformation.
Despite this, the primary reason for the discontinuation of the app can mostly be attributed to the financial drain, or black hole that generative AI often ends up becoming, with returns vastly outweighed by costs.
On Wednesday, however, a reddit user named Ferai, who had left over Microsoft credits and API access, has announced that they have temporarily brought back Sora under the name afterSora.
Ferai claims afterSora is supported by Microsoft for Startups and is cheaper than going directly to Open AI for API access. It will be accessible until the 26th of September with plans of continuing past this date.
“We secured API access to Sora so your workflow doesn’t skip a beat. The same Sora you knew — not a recreation, not an alternative — running until 26 September. What happens after? We’re building for that too.” This statement can be found along with the service at https://aftersora.com/.
Up until this point, essentially all generative AI has survived purely off speculative investment on the stock market, where continuous circular investment between tech companies artificially inflates their stock price, dubbed the AI Bubble.
However, as investors begin to realise potential negative futures of their investments, this could cause the deflation of this bubble over time. The shutdown of Sora as a result of unacceptable costs may accelerate this process, though only time will tell.
Featured image: The end of Sora AI. Graphic: Ben Soltau
