OpenAI is closing Sora, its social network and standalone AI video generation application, and making it available for developers to access the Sora 2 family of video models through its application programming interface (API) to rely on it for their own video generation products or channels.
He The announcement came abruptly this afternoon. with OpenAI publishing a message on X and not giving an exact closing date for the services, but instead promising "timelines for the app and API and details on how to preserve your work."
Sora captivated the world with his highly realistic scene when he was First preview of OpenAI in February 2024more than two years ago, just to be released to mixed reception as an updated Sora Turbo model 10 months later, by which time many other competing video AI model vendors, such as Runway, Luma, and Chinese AI companies Kling and Minimax, had already shipped impressive rivals.
But OpenAI seemed determined to continue developing the video model and enabling creators until now, launching a Sora 2 model on API and applications for iOSso Android in the second half of 2025, and the iOS app briefly reached number one in downloads on the Apple App Store. The app itself was designed to be a social network where users could insert realistic AI-generated versions of themselves and their friends into videos.
The company released updates for Sora at a regular pace. throughout this weekmaking the news of the closure even more abrupt.
And Sora was even so attractive for a time that the entertainment giant Disney signed $1 billion equity investment deal with OpenAI announced in December 2025just four months ago, to bring popular Disney characters to Sora, allowing users to generate new videos with them that Disney planned to share through Disney+, its streaming TV service. As that ad said:
"Under the license, fans will be able to watch select selections of Sora-generated videos on Disney+, and OpenAI and Disney will collaborate to use OpenAI models to power new experiences for Disney+ subscribers, fostering innovative and creative ways to connect with Disney stories and characters. Sora and ChatGPT Images are expected to begin generating fan-inspired videos featuring Disney’s multi-brand licensed characters in early 2026."
Based on today’s news, it’s unclear if that will somehow happen or if OpenAI’s deal with Disney is still on the table. We’ve reached out to OpenAI for more information and will update when we receive it.
The movement arises as OpenAI has openly declared its intention focus on building a "super app" that would include some or all of the capabilities of its various products, including the ChatGPT chatbot, AI coding model, and Codex app, among others, into a single interface. Reports of The Wall Street Journal and other media suggest that the change in strategy is an effort to reorient the entire company to face the rise of competitor Anthropic and its Claude family, especially as it relates to enterprises and software developers, as Claude has seen rapid adoption and enterprise usage in recent months, according to data from SimilarWeb and Rampdriven by your prowess at coding and completing digital tasks autonomously.
The news of Sora’s death came in the midst of a Restructured leadership of OpenAI and the non-profit Foundation arm. and a promise to him the latter will invest a billion dollars "in life sciences and disease cure, jobs and economic impact, AI resilience and community programs," suggesting a shift in focus away from AI-generated content and media.
