OpenAI announces the closure of Sora, ending the $1 billion collaboration with Disney

OpenAI announced the closure of the AI video generation platform Sora's application and API, citing that the company will shift its focus to world simulation research to advance robotics technology. Sora debuted in February 2024 as a text-to-video tool, later expanding into an independent social video platform, and added a "cameos" feature for users to embed AI scenes, but the daily operating costs reached approximately $15 million.

The closure decision simultaneously terminated a major collaboration—Disney had originally planned to invest $1 billion to license OpenAI to use over 250 Disney characters to create AI videos. Disney stated that it respects OpenAI's decision and will continue to explore other AI collaboration opportunities. OpenAI emphasized that the AI image generation feature within ChatGPT will not be affected and will announce the timeline for the closure of the application and API, as well as the user data retention plan.