You know AI video generation is getting convincing when people start to suspect that genuine filmed footage is AI. Some of the posts on social media claiming Sora 2 to be the end of Hollywood are actually showing a Chat GPT ad campaign that was filmed on 35mm film.
Sora 2 does seem to be a big step forward in resolving some of the technical problems associated with AI video, producing clips with much more realistic physics and body mechanics. It's not going to replace camera operators yet, but OpenAI is now out to take on the likes of Instagram and TikTok using the model for its own Sora social media app, which features 100% AI-generated video and allows you to deepfake your friends.
What is Sora 2?
Sora 2 is here. pic.twitter.com/hy95wDM5nBSeptember 30, 2025
OpenAI says Sora 2 can do things that have been difficult if not impossible for AI video generation models until now. Its output is more physically accurate and realistic, more controllable, and it can generate synchronized dialogue and sound effects.
The original Sora was released in February 2024. Since then, the Sora team has focused on training models with more advanced world simulation capabilities, pre-training and post-training on large-scale video data. Example footage shows Sora 2 can generate video of things like gymnastics routines, which used to be horrific with previous AI models.
OpenAI says one problem is that video models are overoptimistic: they will morph objects and deform reality to successfully execute a text prompt. For example, if a basketball player missed a shot, the ball might teleport to the hoop. It says Sora 2 is much better at avoiding this and respecting the laws of physics.
The new model can also follow more intricate instructions spanning multiple shots while persisting world state. It can also insert real-world elements from reference footage, including human and animal subjects as well as objects.
There's no way Hollywood won't be affected by this.Sora 2: "Fight of Mega mechs dieselpunk war machines in 1920s Europe inside a palace banquet hall, scared running people, 8k, dslr, hyperreal"🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/euWfJAt5AVOctober 1, 2025
i have the most liked video on sora 2 right now, i will be enjoying this short moment while it lastscctv footage of sam stealing gpus at target for sora inference pic.twitter.com/B86qzUGlMqSeptember 30, 2025
Comparisons between Sora and Sora 2 emerging on social media give an idea of how much of an advance the new model has made. Users have also been testing the new model on anime styles.
A lot of early users are impressed, but predictions of the end of traditional filmmaking are premature. Sora 2 can generate longer clips than its predecessor, but it's still capped at 60 seconds. Getting consistency over multiple clips to assemble a coherent movie is still likely to be practically impossible.
sora (left) vs. sora 2 (right)prompt: "a group of people playing volleyball" pic.twitter.com/BO12oTm5C9September 30, 2025
11. "A YouTube video shows a beautiful cute young woman dressed as Cammy from Street Fighter being interviewed at a lively video game convention. A young man in a hoodie and jeans is holding a microphone and standing in front of her. She stands confidently in her green leotard"… pic.twitter.com/lyE9HjRYY6October 1, 2025
I tested the AI model Sora 2 on classic anime, the result is hardly believable...I can already see the hundreds of fanmades and parodies that are going to come out! Sora 2 is definitely a new step in AI anime.. pic.twitter.com/npWkSJjjMLSeptember 30, 2025
Super Mario escapes from the game, Sora 2.This could have easily been a high-end commercial just yesterday lol pic.twitter.com/DNIIbQIN0EOctober 1, 2025
Some say Sora 2 is regurgitating rather than generating some footage, with some generations appearing to suggest that it was trained on videos from YouTube.
"It spits back missions like a parrot with RTX. That’s not intelligence, that’s compression. trained on YouTube videos, clearly including several gameplay runs of this mission," one person wrote on X about its apparent ability to reconstruct an entire Cyberpunk side mission.
?? the mission is literally on youtube 1000000 times my brother how are you expecting it to not know? lolSeptember 30, 2025
Where we probably will see Sora 2 used is for short social videos and ad campaigns – although perhaps not for ChatGPT. A lot of people are suggesting that the video below was generated by Sora. It was created by Isle of Any and shot on 35mm film by SMUGGLER director Miles Jay.
OpenAI is pushing its Sora iOS app for iOS as the way to access the new model. Once people have received an invite, they'll also be able to access Sora 2 through sora.com.
Sora 2 will initially be available for free to get people to try it. ChatGPT Pro users will also be able to use the higher quality Sora 2 Pro model. There will also be an API.
If you want to make movies the traditional way, see our guides to the best video editing software. We've also reviewed the best video editing computers and the best laptops for video editing.
