OpenAI will discontinue Sora, its standalone generative AI video app, nearly a year after its public launch. OpenAI did not provide a reason for the shutdown, but clarified it is not exiting AI video entirely.
"We're saying goodbye to the Sora app. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built a community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing," Open AI said in a post on Sora's official X account on Tuesday.
The move ends a billion-dollar, three-year licensing deal with Disney, under which Sora was expected to generate short, user-prompted videos featuring more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars for fan viewing and sharing. Alongside the agreement, Disney was also to become a major OpenAI customer, and use its APIs to build new products and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploy ChatGPT internally for employees.
"As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI's decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere," a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to the media.
Sora's usage has waned drastically in recent months. According to market intelligence firm Appfigures, Sora's US App Store downloads fell 32% month-on-month in December 2025 and dropped a further 45% in January 2026, reaching 1.2 million cumulative installs.
Audiences panned Sora-made campaigns
Toys R Us was the first company to use Sora in a brand film in 2024 (below), debuting the campaign at the Cannes Lions. The spot depicted an AI-generated version of company founder Charles Lazarus as a child, alongside brand mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe.
The public's response was largely negative, with audiences describing the ad as "slop." Research firm Carma recorded a fall in positive brand sentiment from 12.2% to 3.4% following the ad's release, while negative sentiment rose from 13.5% to 53.4%. In response, Toys R Us' global chief marketing officer Kim Miller Olko defended the film, stating it was created "using the most cutting-edge technology available."
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola drew criticism over for its AI-generated Christmas campaigns in 2024, then again in 2025, when it used generative AI to recreate its long-running "Holidays Are Coming" spot. In a behind-the-scenes video posted to Coca-Cola's YouTube channel, the company said a team of five AI specialists refined 70,000 video clips over 30 days to create the ad, using tools including OpenAI's Sora, Google's Veo 3, and Luma AI.
In addition, the platform itself drew backlash from rights holders over copyright infringement. In 2025, Japanese content trade group CODA, whose members include animation studio Studio Ghibli, sent a formal letter to OpenAI demanding the company stop using their content to train Sora 2. The Creative Artists Agency separately called the opt-out model harmful to intellectual property rights.
Marketers reaction to shutdown
Several industry leaders took to LinkedIn and questioned Sora's role in commercial production, while some urged brands to reassess how heavily they rely on AI video tools.
"I don't know why Sora is shutting down, but what a great reminder to not marry your entire process to unproven tools," Dmitry Shamis, founder of creative consultancy Kind/Red, wrote on the platform, adding: "Stop picking jobs for the tool and start picking tools for the job."
Daniel McCarthy, CEO of FM, called the shutdown "a massive win for creatives and, even more so, a win for humanity." He added: "Creatives, go celebrate tonight, the work you do matters."
Joseph Perkins, founder of Perkins Growth Systems, said the shutdown reflected a deeper issue with how poorly AI is used in creative work. "AI slop generation at scale is far from what this world needs. We need better and more efficient models built for work," he wrote on LinkedIn.
Source: Campaign Asia-Pacific
