OpenAI's announcement that it is shutting down the Sora video generation service has sent shockwaves through the industry—after all, it was one of the most sensational products at launch.
Why It Was Shut Down
The core reason is stark: losing about $1 million per day.
The computational cost of video generation is far higher than that of text generation. Each video generation requires tens to hundreds of times the GPU power of a text conversation. With insufficient user volume to spread the cost and no viable business model, continuing to burn cash made no sense.
Disney Partnership Collapses
According to reports, OpenAI and Disney had discussed a deep partnership—using Sora to provide AI video generation support for Disney's content production. But the deal ultimately fell through, with no specific reason publicly disclosed. Speculation points to disagreements over copyright control, quality standards, and commercial terms.
Losing this potential major client was a fatal blow to Sora's commercialization prospects.
The Plight of Video Generation
Sora's experience is not an isolated case. The entire AI video generation track faces the same problems:
- High costs: The computational load is orders of magnitude greater than text generation.
- Unstable quality: Occasionally stunning, often flawed.
- Unclear commercial scenarios: Who is willing to pay for AI-generated videos?
- Copyright risks: The issue of training data copyright remains unresolved.
A Signal for the Industry
The shutdown of Sora demonstrates one thing: being technically feasible and being commercially viable are two different things.
OpenAI's accumulated expertise in video generation technology has not disappeared; these capabilities may reappear in other forms, such as the multimodal features of GPT-5.4. But as a standalone video generation product, Sora has proven that the model is not viable at this stage.
This serves as a warning for competitors like Kuaishou Kling, Runway, and MiniMax Hailuo AI—creating impressive demos is not enough; finding a sustainable business model is the key.
Source: CocoLoop, tech media reports