- OpenAI has launched its Sora AI video app on Android
- Sora lets you create AI-generated videos from text messages
- You can create digital avatars of yourself, your pets, or real-world objects to star in your videos.
OpenAI’s new Sora AI social video app is now officially available on Android after a spectacular debut on iOS several weeks ago. Its debit on iOS recorded more than one million downloads in its first five days on the App Store in September.
Sora climbed the charts faster than the original ChatGPT mobile app and was able to do the same on Google Play.
That debut attracted attention not only because of the novelty of the AI-generated videos, but also because they went viral very quickly. Now that Android users can join in, Sora’s potential reach has skyrocketed.
iOS is an important part of the smartphone ecosystem, but Android powers about 70% of the world’s smartphones. It means that the mainstream era of AI videos, mocked by companies like Google and Meta, has truly arrived.
Like its iOS counterpart, the Android version of Sora is much more than basic image-to-video generation. The app includes a TikTok-style feed of AI-generated clips produced by other users, along with the Cameo tool, which allows users to star in their own videos.
New tools are also released regularly, including reusable avatars of pets and real-world objects called Character Cameos, and users can remix videos they see in the feed with new prompts and character cameos.
Sora’s star shines
That appealing feature is also the source of criticism for Sora’s handling of likenesses, depictions of public figures, and copyrighted characters. After enough complaints, OpenAI reversed its opt-out policy for people and rights holders who did not want their image used in Sora. You now need explicit consent for cameos involving well-known characters or individuals. The company may even allow rights holders to charge more for the use of specific people or characters in the future.
However, Sora’s drive suggests there’s a real appetite for what Sora offers. The launch of Android means that the volume of content is likely to increase exponentially, although the distribution of quality will likely continue to mean that much of it is mediocre at best.
Sure, you can create scenes in seconds with a few sentences that used to take days or weeks of design and work with traditional editing software, but democratizing the potential of content creation doesn’t mean that creative or innovative ideas are suddenly more common.
It also creates challenges around authenticity and attribution. When everyone can create compelling video content, what will happen to our ability to verify what is real, or even who is real?
As Sora becomes more mainstream, the pressure to build ethical barriers from the start will only grow. If you see a video of you saying things you’ve never said in a place that doesn’t exist, you’ll probably want some protection too.
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