OpenAI to expand content control options in Sora, eyes monetisation

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, will introduce tools that let rights holders control how their characters are used in its Sora AI video generator and will share revenue with those who opt in.

Chief Executive Sam Altman wrote on Friday that rights owners will get “more granular control over generation of characters,” including the ability to block their use. He said the options would apply to copyright holders such as film and television studios.

Scrutiny is growing over AI-generated content and its impact on intellectual property rights, as companies navigate how to balance innovation with fair compensation for creators.

OpenAI launched Sora this week as a standalone app, initially available in the United States and Canada. Videos in the app can be up to 10 seconds long.

The app, which swiftly rose in popularity, lets users create and share AI videos that can be spun from copyrighted content and shared to social media-like streams.

Its copyright policy is expected to stir tensions in Hollywood. At least one major studio, Disney, has opted out of having its material appear in the app, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.

OpenAI also plans to introduce a revenue-sharing model for copyright holders who permit their characters to be generated by users, Altman wrote.

He said users are creating significantly more video content than expected, often for niche audiences, prompting the need for a monetisation strategy.

Altman acknowledged that the revenue-sharing framework "will take some trial and error to figure out," but said implementation would begin soon as OpenAI intends to test various approaches within Sora, before rolling out a consistent model across its broader product suite.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI launched a Sora model for public use last year, expanding its foray into multimodal AI technologies and competing with similar text-to-video tools from Meta and Alphabet's Google.