OpenAI's Sora Adds Opt‑In Controls, Revenue Sharing

OpenAI’s Sora video app erupted into a viral surge but quickly ran into copyright and likeness issues. In response, CEO Sam Altman published a blog outlining immediate changes: OpenAI will shift to opt‑in controls that let rights‑holders specify how characters and likenesses may be used, and it plans to introduce revenue‑sharing for user‑generated content tied to copyrighted material or celebrity likenesses.

The platform was flooded with clips featuring IP and real people — examples called out include Pikachu and Mario alongside deepfakes of Michael Jackson and Bob Ross — driving Sora to No. 1 in Apple’s App Store within 24 hours despite being invitation‑only. OpenAI is adding more granular controls and content restrictions as users hit the initial “Wild West” period.

The newsletter also highlights Sora 2’s creator features: you can prompt “selfie‑mode,” compose multi‑angle sequences using a “[cut]” cue, and produce short (5–10s) AI‑generated clips for UGC marketing. Practical limits are already in place — avoid requesting videos of real people by name and you can’t upload photos containing people. The move signals OpenAI tightening policies to balance rapid adoption, creator rights, and legal risk as AI video scales.

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