OpenAI has closed access to its in-house video AI, Sora, which was previously available to a select few, after several artists publicly protested their access. The AI company informed the Washington Post about this decision. The video AI was accessible for about three hours through an online tool on the Hugging Face platform. The artists expressed that they are “not free bug testers and PR puppets.” They criticized the expectation that hundreds of artists would work for free for a company valued at 150 billion dollars.
According to the US newspaper, OpenAI had set up free access to Sora for artists, allowing them to test the video AI. About 20 artists took the opportunity and created an online tool that enabled anyone on the internet to generate videos with it. Unlike other artists, this group is not fundamentally against AI technology, as they assured in a statement, saying “otherwise, we wouldn’t have been invited.” They disagreed with the manner in which the art world was involved, suggesting that OpenAI aimed to neutralize criticism through art. They referred to this as “Art Washing.”
The AI video generator Sora was introduced in February. The software creates realistic-looking videos from text instructions. The model generates videos up to one minute long and aims to deliver high visual quality and precise execution of user instructions. Sora is even intended to assist film studios in producing movies.
OpenAI pointed out to the Washington Post that participation in the test was voluntary, and no one was required to provide feedback. A musician who also used it mentioned that the criticism came from a small minority, while most were enthusiastic. OpenAI believes they are doing everything right.