It’s been just a few weeks since OpenAI dropped its AI slop (sorry, AI video) app, Sora, and the company is already gearing up for its next major wave of updates. In a new post, OpenAI’s head of Sora Bill Peebles outlined what’s coming soon for the AI-video app, including new creation tools, improved social features and much-anticipated Android support.
Peebles says Sora is about to gain new creation tools in the form of character cameos, which are now expanding beyond people. Cameo is Sora’s chief feature that lets you use other people’s likenesses to create nearly any kind of AI video. Soon, you’ll be able to cameo your dog, guinea pig, favorite stuffed toy or generated characters from existing Sora videos. The app’s generation interface will also highlight trending cameos in real time, likely building off of popular existing social media features like the For You page or Explore page on Instagram.
“Anything can be a character cameo,” according to an announcement video posted by Bill Peebles on X.
OpenAI is also adding basic video editing tools, starting with the ability to stitch clips together directly in the app. Peebles says more advanced editing features are on the way, hinting at a broader creative suite that aims to move Sora beyond short, one-off generations to an app that can be used by professional creators.
On the social side of things, the team is experimenting with new ways to use Sora with friends and communities, rather than just a global feed. That could mean channels for your university, workplace, hobbies or sports teams, bringing a more localized vibe to what has so far been a mostly chaotic public stream of AI videos.
In his post on X, Peebles also confirmed the Android version of Sora is coming soon.
These changes follow the first major Sora update earlier this month, which introduced longer video limits and a storyboarding feature. The company announced free Sora users can make videos up to 15 seconds long on the iPhone app and the web (which is the only way Android users can use Sora at the moment). Pro users also get an extra 10 seconds when they create on the web, for a total of 25 seconds. The announcement came one day after Google upgraded its popular AI video model, Veo 3, to handle longer video generations.
Since your Sora account is linked to your ChatGPT account, if you pay for ChatGPT Pro, you’re a paying Sora user. (For more information, see all the payment plans.)
Storyboarding, available only to Pro users on the web, lets creators plan out videos on the web before generating them. Storyboarding has long been a part of the professional filmmaking process and is occasionally included in more professional software programs. Google’s AI filmmaking program Flow, for example, allows for storyboarding. But this is an interesting and somewhat unexpected addition to Sora.
Read More: Here’s the Quickest Way to Get a Special Code for the Viral Sora 2 App
Sora has only been around a short time, but the vibe on the app is focused on shorter, funny videos, echoing OpenAI’s claim that the app is designed to help people connect with their friends. Professional-grade videos that are longer and better planned aren’t very common, but these upcoming updates will likely change that.
This could be a sign that OpenAI is hoping to draw in the professional creators it has previously alienated. Professional creators would need storyboarding, video editing, longer run times and higher resolutions, and OpenAI seems to be tackling them quickly.
OpenAI has a rocky past with professional creators. Before Sora launched, the company reportedly approached talent agencies and other firms, like gaming and streaming companies, saying they would need to opt out of having their intellectual property accessible via Sora. That is, if Nintendo didn’t want Sora users to be able to make AI videos of Pikachu, it needed to tell OpenAI that.
That’s not how copyright law works. OpenAI changed its policies a few days after Sora’s launch and added more controls over how your likeness can be used. It was just the latest episode in an ongoing battle between AI companies and creators.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
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