We’ve certainly been very critical of Disney’s recent sudden embracing of OpenAI, and specifically investing $1 billion in the tech company. This criticism came as the media giant, who previously sued Midjourney for copyright infringement in its generative AI, partnered with OpenAI to allow its Disney+ subscribers to use Sora to…infringe their copyright. Seemed weird, to say the least. Now, however, Disney is pulling out of the deal. Also, surely unrelated, OpenAI announced earlier today it’s shuttering Sora entirely.
OpenAI has had financial issues almost from the moment it started, racking up inconceivable debt while making massive deals with mega-corporations. The Sora AI video app—which allowed users to create generative AI videos—only launched its stable release in September of 2025. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, OpenAI is bidding it farewell.
“We’re saying goodbye to Sora. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you,” the company said in a statement. “What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing. We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work.”
“Your work” comes with some heavy caveats there. Disney’s investment pledge to OpenAI hinged on putting some of its characters and intellectual property into Sora which would then feed back into Disney+ (somehow). Now, with Sora going away, Disney effectively has no reason to invest anything.
This doesn’t mean Disney is getting out of the AI game, however. A spokesperson for Disney said:
As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere. We appreciate the constructive collaboration between our teams and what we learned from it, and we will continue to engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans where they are while responsibly embracing new technologies that respect IP and the rights of creators.
Disney is hoping that allowing users to create slop using its characters will mean they can somehow monetize it. We’ll see what will become of that. As for OpenAI, their ChatGPT app still has a video component, but given their gargantuan debt, Sora may just not have generated enough users to justify itself.
Human art forever.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.