OpenAI Is Shutting Down Its Sora Video App and a $1 Billion Disney Deal

OpenAI said Tuesday that it is shutting down Sora, its AI video-generation app, in a post on X that began, “We’re saying goodbye to Sora,” according to NBC News. The company has not yet given timelines for the app or its programming interface. TechCrunch quoted the post as saying, “We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported the decision, citing waning user interest, CBS News said. OpenAI’s stated reason, per CBS, is refocusing computing power on growing demand, and an OpenAI spokesperson said, “We’ve decided to discontinue Sora in the consumer app and API.” NBC News reported that shifting resources away from the resource-intensive video product would let OpenAI direct scarce chips toward coding, reasoning and text generation. TechCrunch, by contrast, wrote that OpenAI gave no reason in its announcement.

Sora’s rise was fast. OpenAI released Sora 2 in September 2025, CBS News said, and NBC News reported a standalone app; CBS News said the app’s “cameos” feature let users make videos of themselves and others, and that it quickly reached the top of Apple’s App Store. NBC said the app topped the iOS Photo and Video category within a day.

The product also drew criticism. CBS News reported that some users made “disrespectful depictions” of Martin Luther King Jr., leading OpenAI to temporarily block videos using his likeness, and that videos featuring Ronald McDonald raised copyright concerns. TechCrunch reported that deepfakes of King and Robin Williams appeared and that both men’s daughters asked users to stop. NBC News wrote that copyright and deepfake experts raised alarms about the videos.

The shutdown also affects Disney. In December, Disney announced a three-year licensing deal that would let Sora generate videos with characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, and said it planned to invest $1 billion in OpenAI, according to NBC News. A source familiar with the matter told NBC the deal is not proceeding. TechCrunch reported that the deal is also gone and that no money appears to have changed hands before it collapsed. CBS News said its report did not make clear how the shutdown affects the licensing arrangement.

Disney’s public statements were measured. A spokesperson said the company “respect[s] OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere,” NBC reported. CBS quoted a Disney spokesperson thanking OpenAI for “the constructive collaboration between our teams” and saying Disney will continue engaging with AI platforms while respecting intellectual property and creators’ rights.

OpenAI’s other image tools are unaffected for now. CBS reported that ChatGPT’s image generator remains available.