OpenAI shutters short-form video app Sora as company reels in costs

Six months after launching the Sora app and seeing it quickly go viral, OpenAI is shuttering the service, the company said on Tuesday. "We're saying goodbye to Sora. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you," OpenAI wrote in a post on X. "What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing. We'll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work."While Sora proved wildly popular with users, hitting one million downloads less than five days after its launch in late September, OpenAI is reeling in costs as it seeks to justify its $730 billion valuation and set the stage for a potential IPO. OpenAI has been retreating from some hefty spending plans, shelving certain ambitious projects and accepting its role as a purchaser of massive amounts of cloud capacity rather than as a builder of mammoth data centers.Earlier on Tuesday, OpenAI announced it will pivot away from of the Instant Checkout shopping feature it announced last year. The company also announced plans to combine its web browser, ChatGPT app and Codex coding app into a singular desktop super app earlier this month. Sora allowed users to generate short videos, remix videos created by other users and post them to a shared feed. It rocketed to the top of Apple's App Store, though the initial excitement among users has since dissipated. In December, Disney announced it would invest $1 billion in OpenAI and allow users to make videos with its copyrighted characters on Sora. As part of a new three-year licensing agreement between the two, Sora users would be able make content with more than 200 characters across Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars starting next year.A Disney spokesperson said on Tuesday the company respects "OpenAI's decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere." "We appreciate the constructive collaboration between our teams and what we learned from it, and we will continue to engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans where they are while responsibly embracing new technologies that respect IP and the rights of creators," Disney said. Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of applications, recently held an all-hands meeting with staffers to discuss the the company's priorities. She said said that the OpenAI is "orienting aggressively" towards high-productivity use cases. One area it's trying to compete more forcefully is in the enterprise, where Anthropic has built a big business with its Claude model. "What really matters for us right now is staying focused and executing extremely well," Simo said during the meeting, according to a partial transcript reviewed by CNBC. Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inboxGet this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.© 2026 Versant Media, LLC.

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