OpenAI's 'Sora' Video Generator To Officially Feature Fictional Characters
Companies who opt in to allow Sora to use their characters will also become elligible for a share of the revenue generated.
Users will soon be able to make videos with themselves interacting with their favourite fictional characters as Open AI's 'Sora' video generator will be including such a feature in their upcoming app.
Sora head Bill Peebles posted on social media platform X on Monday that an AI-generated TikTok analogue will have the inclusion of fictional characters in its roadmap with more details to be announced soon.
Sora got into hot water with companies filing copyright infringement lawsuits against OpenAI due to the unlicenced use of its characters by users who generated fictional scenarios with established intellectual property portraying them in ways that their owners would have no control over.
The most notable of these examples was a user using Sora to create an AI-generated video where beloved children's cartoon icon Spongebob Squarepants, was manufacturing 'blue barnacle' with his best friend Patrick the starfish inside what seemed like an underwater illegal drug lab.
The video as reported by Futurism, was intended as a parody of the hit crime drama 'Breaking Bad' which involves a chemistry teacher who starts manufacturing the banned narcotic substance crystal methamphetamine to fund his cancer treatment.
A more egregious example as reported by 404media involved Spongebob being dressed up like fascist dictator Adolf Hitler giving xenophobic speeches about the other fish in his underwater town Bikini Bottom.
In response to the backlash, Altman introduced an 'opt-in' feature where companies can choose to consent to the use of their IP in Sora. He further expanded on this, in a blog post saying that firms will have "granular control" over their properties where they get to put stipulations on how their characters will be used.
Moreover companies who opt in will also become eligible for a share of the revenue generated by Sora.
The web version of Sora is currently available via subscription to Chat GPT Plus, whereas the app version is only available in the US and Canada on an invite-only basis.
Altman reported that rights holders who opted in "are very excited" for this new form of "interactive fan fiction" and that the revenue sharing model will be coming soon but will take some "trial and error to figure out".
