Jake Peterson
Senior Technology Editor
Experience
Jake Peterson is Lifehacker’s Tech Editor, and has been covering tech news and how-tos for nearly a decade. His team covers all things technology, including AI, smartphones, computers, game consoles, and subscriptions.
Add as a preferred source on Google
Credit: Koshiro K/Shutterstock
Key Takeaways
- OpenAI is reportedly shutting down Sora, its AI video generation app.
- The company will also not incorporate AI video models into other products like ChatGPT.
- The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the plans to staff on Tuesday.
- OpenAI is looking ahead to a potential initial public offering later this year.
Table of Contents
It’s the end of an (albeit short) era: OpenAI is reportedly shutting down Sora, the company’s once-viral AI video generation app. The Wall Street Journal was the first to break the story, and reports that the company is shuttering the app as part of a grander plan to streamline OpenAI ahead of a potential IPO (initial public offering) later this year.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed the news first with company staff on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal says. It seems the move goes beyond just shutting down the Sora app itself: In addition to axing a developer-version of Sora, Altman reportedly told staff that OpenAI would not incorporate its AI video models in other company products going forward, including ChatGPT.
Sora’s official X account posted to confirm the news:
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
The brief history of Sora
OpenAI only launched Sora in October of last year, and in that short period of time, the app helped propel AI-generated slop across social media feeds, including Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Sora is far from the only tool people use to make to AI video content, but it offered an easy solution for generating hyper-realistic short-form video content. If you encountered AI versions of the types of videos you tend to scroll past on social media, chances are it came from Sora.
Sora also made it possible to generate “Cameos,” or make videos with the likeness of real people. The company was adamant its privacy and security policies were significant enough to ensure it wouldn’t be used for ill, but the potential for deepfakes was so great, it seemed like a pandora’s box waiting to be opened.
Still, Sora gained some legitimacy in the eyes of traditional media, too: In a perplexing move, Disney partnered with OpenAI to let users generate videos featuring over 200 Disney characters. You might assume OpenAI paid for that integration, but on the contrary, Disney made an equity investment of $1 billion into the company. (That is not a typo.) But with Sora’s sunsetting, Disney officially exited the deal on Tuesday.
This announcement has implications beyond Sora the app. If OpenAI largely abandons AI video generation in general, it will be exiting a tight race amongst competition from companies like Google (Veo) and ByteDance (Seedance). The Sora app uses OpenAI’s Sora video model, which the company announced two years ago. Back then, OpenAI’s concept video scared the bejeezus out of me; since then, the AI video market has only exploded. While Sora might’ve been the go-to for short-form nonsense, there’s plenty of other AI slop across the internet being made with other tools—some of which is getting extremely difficult to discern from reality.
OpenAI seems to have a difference focus going forward. The company previously announced a new “super app” that combines its web browser (Atlas), ChatGPT, and Codex coding app into one program. I guess Sora didn’t fit into that equation.
(Disclosure: Lifehacker’s parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
The Download Newsletter
Never miss a tech story
Jake Peterson
Get the latest tech news, reviews, and advice from Jake and the team.
The Download NewsletterNever miss a tech story.
Get the latest tech news, reviews, and advice from Jake and the team.
Lifehacker has been a go-to source of tech help and life advice since 2005. Our mission is to offer reliable tech help and credible, practical, science-based life advice to help you live better.
© 2001-2026 Ziff Davis, LLC., A ZIFF DAVIS COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Lifehacker is a federally registered trademark of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate
any affiliation or the
endorsement of Lifehacker. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant.
