OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirms content control and revenue sharing for AI video app Sora

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is introducing new measures that will let owners of content rights control how their characters are used in its AI video creation app, Sora. The company also plans to share revenue with creators who allow the use of their intellectual property.

Chief Executive Sam Altman wrote on his blog on Friday that the new tools will provide rights holders “more granular control over generation of characters.” Options for copyright owners, including film and television studios, will include the ability to block their characters from appearing in AI-generated content.

The launch of Sora this week, initially in the United States and Canada, allows users to create videos up to 10 seconds long. The app has gained popularity quickly, letting users generate AI videos that can incorporate copyrighted material and share them via social media-style streams.

Altman noted that the new revenue-sharing model will apply to copyright holders who permit their characters to be used. “Users are creating significantly more video content than expected, often for niche audiences,” he said, highlighting the need for monetisation.

He acknowledged that the revenue-sharing framework “will take some trial and error to figure out” but said OpenAI plans to test several approaches within Sora before implementing a standard model across its wider product suite.

The policy is expected to generate debate in Hollywood, where some major studios, including Disney, have already opted out of having their content appear in the app, according to people familiar with the matter.

OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, first released a public version of Sora last year, expanding its presence in multimodal AI tools and competing with similar video-generation platforms from Meta and Alphabet’s Google. Meta recently introduced Vibes, which enables users to create and share short-form AI videos.