OpenAI’s decision to close Sora, its AI video-generation app, has drawn fresh attention after reports suggested the shutdown was driven less by privacy concerns and more by business reality. The tool, which let users upload their own faces into generated videos, had sparked suspicion online after it was discontinued only six months after launch. Reports Techcrunch.com.
According to a Wall Street Journal investigation cited by TechCrunch, Sora’s biggest problem was weak demand combined with very high operating costs. The app reportedly reached about one million users at its peak, but that number later fell below 500,000. At the same time, keeping the service running was said to cost OpenAI around $1 million per day because AI video generation requires heavy computing power.
That pressure appears to have forced OpenAI to rethink its priorities. While teams were focused on Sora, rivals such as Anthropic were reportedly gaining ground in areas more closely tied to long-term revenue, especially with products aimed at software engineers and business clients.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ultimately chose to shut Sora down, free up computing capacity and redirect efforts elsewhere. The move appears to have been abrupt: the Wall Street Journal reported that Disney, which had committed $1 billion to a partnership, learned about the closure less than an hour before the public announcement, and the agreement ended alongside the product.
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