OpenAI’s new AI tool can turn text into realistic-looking videos

OpenAI teased a new artificial intelligence system that can create realistic-looking videos based on text prompts from users, making it the latest AI company to embrace generative video technology.

The AI system, called Sora, can quickly create videos up to a minute long that represent “complex scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion, and accurate details of the subject and background,” the company said in a blog post on Thursday.

The tool will initially be made available to “a limited number of creators,” OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman wrote in a post on X.

OpenAI is also granting access to a team of experts tasked with assessing Sora’s safety before incorporating it into the company’s products.

Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Runway AI have previously built text-to-video generators.

While this technology could speed up the creative process, it also could add to concerns about AI upending the livelihoods of artists and spreading misinformation, particularly in a pivotal election year.

As part of its preparations for rolling out the product, OpenAI said it’s building tools to help detect when a video was generated by Sora.

But AI companies have previously struggled to create foolproof AI detection systems.

Last year, OpenAI shelved a classifier that had been intended to detect AI-generated writing, citing its “low rate of accuracy.”