OpenAI shock as firm shuts down popular Sora AI video generation app in desperate bid to temper spending

OpenAI has been running hot lately: promising to double its workforce, striking a deal with the Pentagon, and raising another $110 billion in funding. But amid all the momentum, one product is quietly bowing out: Sora.

As recently as yesterday, OpenAI was still posting guidelines for the Sora app, which is hardly a sign of impending closure. Yet the company is now doubling down on its enterprise push, announcing the shutdown of one of its most buzzed-about (and then died off) products, Sora.

As a result of the closure, Disney is also pulling out of its $1 billion deal with OpenAI. Given the recent sum gained from capital venturing, I’m not even sure they care.

Bing is another touch-point. Even though Microsoft recently announced its plans to create its own models and LLMs, the current Bing generation tools rely solely on the use of OpenAI’s Sora models.

Having been powered by Sora 2 in June of 2025, it became one of the first widespread free access points to the model outside of a paid ChatGPT subscription. Even having later upgraded to Sora 2, users could create free videos around 5 seconds with daily limits or boosts using Microsoft Rewards.

In a statement on X, the Sora team shared, "We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built a community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing. We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work."

The head of Sora, William Peebles, said a month ago that Sora was “unsustainable” when they announced they were lowering the number of free gems users could attain:

“We are launching the ability to buy extra gens in Sora today. We have been quite amazed by how much our power users want to use Sora, and the economics are currently completely unsustainable. We thought 30 free gens/day would be more than enough, but clearly we were wrong! This will let our pro creators get as much usage as they want to pay for.”

So, what’s next for the research team behind Sora? Whether you agreed with the usage or creation of the product, one thing was certain: Sora was an incredible piece of technology. Slop or not, the research and development behind the product took genius to create, and now, that team still has a home.

In a statement to CBS News, OpenAI said, "We've decided to discontinue Sora in the consumer app and API. 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."

Real-world scenarios where robotics are powered by real-time video referencing are surely something the team at Sora can get behind. Maybe we’re only a few years away from a true Bicentennial Man.

Does the shutdown of Sora affect you? Are you happy or saddened by the news? Long live AI slop? Let us know in the comments below!

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