Why Irate Artists Leaked OpenAI’s AI Video Generator Sora

On Tuesday, a group of 16 artists leaked OpenAI’s unreleased Sora text-to-video generator to the public.

In an open letter addressed to “Corporate AI Overlords” and posted on the AI hosting platform Hugging Face, the artists explained that they obtained early access to Sora in exchange for testing it. They said they weren’t against AI as an artistic tool and wouldn’t have been invited to the program alongside about 300 other artists if they were.

However, they now believe that OpenAI was trying to use their feedback to “art wash” or to tell other artists that Sora is useful. They also took fault with OpenAI for not compensating them for their efforts.

Related: ‘I Am Absolutely Terrified’: OpenAI’s New Project Isn’t ‘Broadly’ Available Yet — But It’s Already Setting Off Alarm Bells

“Artists are not your unpaid R&D [Research and Development],” the artists wrote. “Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback and experimental work for the program for a $150B valued company.”

The artists claimed that OpenAI controlled which AI-generated videos it made public by mandating that each shared video created with Sora receive the company’s approval. They accused OpenAI of making the early access program less about creative critique and more about free PR for the company and said they weren’t “PR puppets.”

In an effort to fight back, the creatives leaked Sora to the public on Tuesday and allowed a broader pool of users to experiment with the tool for free. OpenAI shut down early access to Sora after the leak had been live for three hours; the tool posted to Hugging Face is no longer functional.

An OpenAI spokesperson told the Washington Post that participating in the Sora early access program “is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool.”

Related: Here’s What Sora, OpenAI’s Text-to-Video Creator, Can Really Do

OpenAI announced Sora in February, with CEO Sam Altman crowdsourcing prompts from people on X to create videos. At that point, the company decided not to make the tool publicly available.

https://t.co/qbj02M4ng8 pic.twitter.com/EvngqF2ZIX

— Sam Altman (@sama) February 15, 2024

In July, OpenAI published multiple videos artists created using Sora, including a two-minute, nine-second video created by artist Tammy Lovin that brings surreal visuals to life.

OpenAI was worth $157 billion at the time of writing.