The illustration photo shows the Sora 2 logo displayed on a smartphone.
Photo | Future Publishing | Getty Images
Creative Artists Agency on Thursday accused OpenAI’s new video creation app Sora of posing “significant risks” to its customers and intellectual property.
The talent agency, which represents Doja Cat, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks and other stars, questioned whether OpenAI believes that “human beings, writers, artists, actors, directors, producers, musicians and athletes deserve to be compensated and recognized for the work they create.”
“Or do we believe that open AI can just steal, ignoring global copyright principles and blatantly denying the rights of creators and the many people and companies who fund the creation, creation and publication of these human works? In our opinion, the answer to this question is clear,” CAA wrote.
CAA said it is “open to hearing” solutions from OpenAI and is working with IP leaders, trade unions, lawmakers and global policymakers on this issue.
“Control, licensing and compensation are fundamental rights of these workers,” the CAA wrote. “Anything less than the protection of creators and their rights is unacceptable.”
Sora was released last week and quickly reached 1 million downloads. Users can create AI-generated clips that often feature popular characters and brands.
OpenAI started with an “opt-out” system that allowed studios and agencies to use copyrighted material unless they requested that the IP not be used.
CEO Sam Altman later said in a blog post that it gives rights holders “more control over character generation.”
United Talent Agency also criticized Sora’s use of copyright in a statement on Thursday, calling it “exploitation rather than innovation.”
“There is no substitute for human talent in our business, and we will continue to fight tirelessly for our clients to ensure they are protected,” UTA said in a statement. “When it comes to OpenAI’s Sora and other platforms that seek to profit from their clients’ intellectual property and likeness, we stand with artists.”
OpenAI announced Thursday that in addition to screening existing Sora videos for material that does not comply with its latest policies, it has put in place guardrails aimed at stopping the creation of well-known characters.
“We will be rolling out updates that will remove generated characters from Sora’s public feed and give rights holders more control over their characters and how fans create with them,” Varun Shetty, vice president of media partnerships, said in a statement.
Entertainment agency WME sent a memo to agents on Wednesday, “informing OpenAI that all WME clients should opt out of the latest Sora AI update, regardless of whether the intellectual property owner has opted out of the IP associated with the client,” the LA Times reported.
In a letter to OpenAI last week, Disney said it does not authorize OpenAI and Sora to copy, distribute, publicly display or perform images or videos featuring copyrighted works or characters, the people said.
Disney also wrote that it was not obligated to “opt out” of appearing on Sora or the OpenAI system to protect its rights under copyright law, the person said.
The Motion Picture Association issued a statement on Tuesday calling on OpenAI to take “immediate and decisive action” against videos that used Sora to produce content that infringes copyrighted material.
With the proliferation of generative AI, entertainment companies are raising many concerns about copyright.
In June, Universal and Disney filed suit against producer Midjourney, accusing the company of using and distributing AI-generated characters in its films despite requests to stop the production. Disney also sent a cease-and-desist letter to AI startup Character.AI in September, warning the company against using its copyrighted characters without permission.
