(Credit: OpenAI)
A group of artists leaked OpenAI's Sora video generator online, claiming the company is using them for unpaid beta testing and pressuring them to spin a positive narrative around the tool.
"We received access to Sora with the promise to be early testers, red teamers, and creative partners," says a post authored by 14 artists under the username PR-Puppets. "However, we believe instead we are being lured into 'art washing' to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists."
They say OpenAI requires every video clip to be approved before sharing, suggesting the early access program is "less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement." They also say OpenAI is exploiting them as unpaid beta testers.
The artists published version of Sora on Hugging Face, which anyone could use to create 10-second video clips. The interface has since been shut down, but not before several people tried it and published their clips on social media. They bore OpenAI's visual AI watermark, TechCrunch reports. One engineer inspected the tool and found it to be legit, noting that the code pointed to the OpenAI Sora endpoint and used the group's early access tokens to generate videos.
OpenAI shut down early access for all artists three hours after the post went up on Hugging Face, the group claims.
"We are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts...What we don't agree with is how this artist program has been rolled out," the group says. "We are sharing this to the world in the hopes that OpenAI becomes more open, more artist friendly, and supports the arts beyond PR stunts."
OpenAI tells PCMag artists have "no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool." There are no usage requirements to be in the beta program, and participation is voluntary. Feedback from those who choose to try Sora has helped the company "prioritize new features and safeguards."
Sora debuted in Feb. 2024, surprising everyone with high-quality, 60-second video clips created with a simple text prompt. It kicked off a wave of video generators from Amazon, YouTube, Alibaba, and movie studio Lionsgate, but is still not available to the public.
AI video generators come with notable risks, which require extra testing that could be prolonging Sora's public debut. Bad actors could use them to geneate harmful deepfakes, including hateful, violent, or sexually explicit content. This could also be one reason OpenAI wants to review the artists' clips before sharing.
"Sora is still in research preview, and we’re working to balance creativity with robust safety measures for broader use," OpenAI tells PCMag. "We believe AI can be a powerful creative tool and are committed to making Sora both useful and safe."