OpenAI Shuts Down Sora Video App Following Deepfake Backlash

Summary

OpenAI announced on Tuesday, March 25, 2026, that it is shutting down its social video generation app, Sora. The platform went viral after its launch as a standalone app in September 2025, allowing users to create and share short AI-generated videos — but it also sparked significant concern from Hollywood and other industries over the risks of misuse.

In a post on social media, the company said it was "saying goodbye to the Sora app" and promised to share more details soon on how users can preserve the content they created on the platform. OpenAI acknowledged that "what you created with Sora mattered" and that the shutdown news would be "disappointing" for users.

The company confirmed that ChatGPT's image generation capabilities are not affected by the closure.

In practice

Since its initial unveiling in late 2024, Sora became a popular playground on the internet: users exploited the tool to produce surreal and often absurd videos using the likenesses of real public figures. Examples cited in the article include videos of Michael Jackson stealing buckets of KFC chicken or Stephen Hawking riding a skateboard ramp.

OpenAI positioned Sora as a standalone app in September 2025 as part of a strategy to compete with short-video platforms such as TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and Meta-owned Facebook — targeting both user growth and potential advertising revenue.

However, the platform's expansion was accompanied by growing backlash: advocacy organizations, academics, and experts raised concerns about how easily any user could generate videos on virtually any subject. This openness led to the spread of non-consensual imagery, realistic deepfakes, and a significant volume of "AI slop" — low-quality, low-value AI-generated content.

In response to criticism, OpenAI eventually restricted the generation of content featuring specific public figures, including Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mister Rogers — but only after pressure from the estates of those individuals and an actors' union.

What we still don't know

The shutdown comes at a particularly awkward moment: just three months after OpenAI and The Walt Disney Company signed a three-year agreement allowing Sora users to generate videos featuring more than 200 Disney-licensed characters, including figures from Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars.

Disney responded to the closure in a statement, saying it respects "OpenAI's decision to exit the video generation business and redirect its priorities to other areas." The company added that it "appreciates the constructive collaboration between our teams" and that it will continue to work with AI platforms to find new ways to reach fans, "responsibly adopting new technologies that respect intellectual property and creators' rights."

OpenAI did not specify, according to the article, which "other areas" its priorities will shift to, nor did it provide concrete details about what will happen to content already created by users on the platform.

Why it matters

• Sora was one of the most visible generative AI products of 2025, and its abrupt closure highlights the limits of open video generation platforms under social and regulatory pressure.
• The spread of deepfakes and non-consensual content on AI platforms remains one of the sector's most significant ethical and legal challenges.
• The episode raises questions about the long-term viability of open video generation business models, especially those relying on large-scale commercial agreements such as the one signed with Disney.
• For users who created content on the platform, the shutdown leaves open questions about content preservation and ownership.