OpenAI launches Sora app for AI-generated videos to rival TikTok

OpenAI has launched Sora, a new social media app that generates AI videos, joining Meta’s recent entry into the AI-generated short-form video market with its Vibes product. The launch signals a major push by tech giants to capture attention currently dominated by TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, while raising concerns about “AI slop” potentially crowding out authentic human creativity and degrading the information ecosystem.

What you should know: Sora allows users to create videos of themselves in virtually any imaginable scenario, from anime-style content to highly realistic footage.

• The iPhone app is currently available only in the U.S. and Canada, with plans for broader rollout.
• OpenAI’s launch video features CEO Sam Altman speaking from AI-generated locations including a psychedelic forest, the moon, and a stadium filled with fans watching rubber duck races.
• Both Sora and Meta’s Vibes use personalized recommendation algorithms based on user engagement patterns.

The competitive landscape: Meta launched its own AI video feed within the Meta AI app just last week, creating direct competition in this emerging space.

• Mark Zuckerberg showcased Meta’s Vibes with AI videos including a cartoon version of himself and various whimsical scenarios.
• The timing suggests both companies see AI-generated video content as the next frontier for social media engagement.
• This represents a significant shift from text-based AI tools to visual content creation.

Why experts are concerned: Researchers worry that a flood of AI-generated content could fundamentally alter how people consume and trust information online.

• “These things are so compelling,” said Jose Marichal, a political science professor at California Lutheran University who studies AI’s societal impact. “I think what sucks you in is that they’re kind of implausible, but they’re realistic looking.”
• Marichal warns that when AI content dominates feeds, “we either become super, super skeptical of everything or we become super certain. We’re either the manipulated or the manipulators.”
• The concern extends beyond entertainment to democratic governance: “We need an information environment that is mostly true or that we can trust because we need to use it to make rational decisions about how to collectively govern,” Marichal explained.

OpenAI’s response to concerns: The company acknowledged potential risks in its Tuesday announcement, outlining several mitigation strategies.

• “Concerns about doomscrolling, addiction, isolation, and (reinforcement learning)-sloptimized feeds are top of mind,” OpenAI stated in its blog post.
• The company plans to periodically poll users about their wellbeing and provide feed adjustment options.
• Sora includes a built-in bias to recommend posts from friends rather than strangers.

What’s already happening: AI-generated videos are already proliferating across social media platforms, ranging from harmless entertainment to potentially misleading content.

• Examples include “a housecat riding a wild animal from the perspective of a doorbell camera” and fake natural disaster reports that are engaging but easily debunked.
• Marichal noted that people are naturally drawn to extraordinary content, making AI-generated videos particularly compelling and potentially problematic when they dominate information feeds.