OpenAI shuts down video generating Sora app

OpenAI is shutting down its social media app Sora, which gained rapid popularity last fall as a platform for sharing short-form videos generated by artificial intelligence.

In a brief statement shared Tuesday on the US social media company X, the company said it was "saying goodbye to the Sora app" and would soon provide more details on how users can preserve content they created on the platform.

"What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing," it said.

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, launched Sora in September but the app raised concerns among advocacy groups, academics and experts over the risks of allowing users to generate AI videos from virtually any text prompt, potentially leading to the spread of nonconsensual content and highly realistic deepfakes.

Critics warned that such tools could contribute to a surge in harmful material as well as cause endless scrolling, a phenomenon known as doomscrolling.