- OpenAI has launched its Sora AI video app on Android
- Sora lets you create AI-generated videos from text prompts
- You can make digital avatars of yourself, your pets, or real-world objects to star in your videos
OpenAI’s new Sora AI video social app is now officially available on Android after a spectacular debut on iOS several weeks ago. Its debut on iOS saw over a million downloads within its first five days on the App Store back in September.
Sora climbed the charts faster than the original ChatGPT mobile app, and could do the same on Google Play.
That debut turned heads not just because of the novelty of AI-generated videos, but also because they went viral so quickly. Now, with Android users able to join in, Sora's potential reach has skyrocketed.
iOS is a sizeable part of the smartphone ecosystem, but Android powers roughly 70% of the world's smartphones. It means the mainstream era of AI videos teased by the likes of Google and Meta has now truly arrived.
As with its iOS counterpart, the Android version of Sora is much more than basic image-to-video generation. The app includes a TikTok-style feed of AI-generated clips produced by other users, along with the Cameo tool, enabling users to star in their own videos.
There are also new tools rolling out regularly, including reusable avatars of pets and real-world objects called Character Cameos, and users can remix videos they see on the feed with new prompts and cameo characters.
Sora's star shines
That enticing feature is also a source of faced criticism for how Sora handles likenesses, depictions of public figures, and copyrighted characters. After enough complaints, OpenAI reversed its opt-out policy for people and rightsholders who didn't want their likeness used in Sora. Now you need explicit opt-in consent for cameos involving well-known characters or individuals. The company may even let rightsholders charge extra for the use of specific people or characters in the future.
Nonetheless, Sora's momentum suggests there's a real appetite for what Sora offers. The Android launch means the volume of content is likely to increase exponentially, though the distribution of quality will probably still mean a lot of it is, at best, mediocre.
Sure, you can whip up scenes in seconds with a few sentences that used to take days or weeks of design and work with traditional editing software, but democratizing content creation potential doesn't mean creative or innovative ideas are suddenly more common.
It also creates challenges around authenticity and attribution. When everyone can make convincing video content, what happens to our ability to verify what’s real, or even who's real?
As Sora goes mainstream, the pressure to build in ethical guardrails from the start will only grow. If you see a video of yourself saying things you've never said in a place that doesn't exist, you'd probably want some protection too.
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