Samuel Boyvin | nuphoto | Getty Images
Openai launched the short form video app Sora this week, with users flooding the platform with artificial intelligence-generated clips of popular brands and animated characters.
Startups could soon face a flood of copyright lawsuits, experts told CNBC.
“Many of the videos where people generate characters in these cartoons are trying to infringe copyright,” said Mark Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School, in an interview. “Openai has been opened to quite a number of copyright lawsuits by doing this.”
SORA allows users to create short videos for free by entering a prompt. This app is available only on iOS devices and is invited-based. That means people need code to access it.
Since its release on Tuesday, Sora has already climbed to the top Apple’s App Store.
CNBC visited Sora on Wednesday to watch videos that include characters from shows such as “Spongebob Squarepants,” “Rick and Morty,” and “South Park,” as well as movies like “Despicable Me.”
In one video, Open CEO Sam Altman showed him standing on the field with several Pokemon characters. So he says, “I hope Nintendo doesn’t sue us.” The other shows something fictional McDonald’s Mascot Ronald McDonald escaped from the police in a car shaped like a hamburger.
CNBC was also able to independently generate several characters and logos, including Ronald McDonald, Patrick Star from “SpongeBob SquarePants,” Pikachu from the Pokemon franchise, Starbucks Coffee Cup and the “Simpsons” characters.
Screenshots of AI-generated videos featured on the Openai video generation platform Sora.
Courtesy: Kiera | Canghe666 | Troyi | Via Sora
McDonald declined to comment. The other companies behind these characters and logos did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
“People want to interact with family and friends through their imaginations, not just their imagination. They are the stories, characters and worlds they love, and they see new opportunities for creators to deepen their connections with their fans.” “We work with the rights holders to block characters from Sora on their requests and respond to takedown requests.”
AI startups are rapidly changing the way people can interact with content online, and media companies and other brands have launched a series of fresh legal battles to protect their intellectual property.
Disney and Universal sued AI image creator Midjourney, claiming that the company inappropriately used and distributed characters generated by AI from the film. Disney also sent a ceasefire and a destination letter to chatle.ai last week warning startups to stop using copyrighted characters without approval.
The characters are copyrighted. This means that third parties cannot use copyrighted or original characters without permission.
When companies control what copyrighted characters are doing and say in user-generated videos, that would be an issue, Remley said.
“I can imagine why Taylor Swift doesn’t want it — even if the porn is off the table — and I don’t want her to make a video of her saying things she doesn’t say,” he said. “I think the same applies to cartoon characters.”
Openai said it respects Takedown requests filed through a “copyright dispute” form that allows content owners to flag certain content. Users can also report copyright and trademark infringement videos directly through the app.
The company said these actions provide granularity for each letter, which is different from opting out of blankets.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Openai reportedly opted out of SORA to some talent agencies and studios, giving the option to exclude copyrighted material prior to the launch of the app.
Such an arrangement would be unusual, according to Jason Bloom, a partner and chairman of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Group at law firm Haynes Boone. Typically, third parties must obtain express permission to use someone’s work under copyright law.
“Unless you tell us, we cannot post a notice to the public that we are saying we are going to use everyone’s work,” he said. “That’s not how copyright works.”
Openai said it has taken steps to address potential safety concerns regarding the SORA app. This involves explicitly controlling the user about how they are used on the platform.
Users can choose to create “cameos” that can be inserted into the video, allowing them to directly control who has access. In reality, this means that the user cannot generate videos of other people or public figures without the person’s express permission.
In a blog post late Friday, Altman said there was similarly more detailed control coming for the rights holders.
“We assume that different people try very different approaches and understand what works for them,” writes Altman. “But we want to apply the same standards for everyone and make sure we decide how to go to the right shoulder (Of course, our aim is to make it as attractive as many people would like to).”
Watch: Openai’s SORA 2 Sparks ai ‘slop’ backlash
