Jake Paul Embraces AI-Generated Videos on Sora 2, Sparking Controversy and Debate

Jake Paul Invites Users to Fake Him on Sora, So They Immediately Use It to Make Him Gay and Obsessed With Makeup

OpenAI's recent launch of its text-to-video AI generator app, Sora 2, has already led to an enormous tidal wave of AI slop hitting internet feeds. The company made the eyebrow-raising decision of putting deepfakes front and center of the app's TikTok-like experience, inviting users to offer themselves up for "cameos" created by other users. "With cameos, you can drop yourself straight into any Sora scene with remarkable fidelity after a short one-time video-and-audio recording in the app to verify your identity and capture your likeness," the company boasted in its announcement. And while not everybody was willing to become the butt of the joke, like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman -- whose visage quickly adorned AI-generated and unnerving CCTV footage of him shoplifting or his head popping out of a toilet -- some internet personalities were willing to throw themselves at the mercy of meme lords everywhere. Influencer Jake Paul seemingly was one of them, and the results were as outlandish as you might expect. Seemingly inspired by a deepfake video of him passionately kissing upcoming UFC opponent Gervonta Davis last month, users quickly started sharing clips of him coming out of the closet and giving makeup tutorials. Paul took the clips in stride, initially putting on a grave voice and decrying that "this AI is getting out of hand," only to buy into the trend by acting camp in a response video posted to TikTok on Monday. But his girlfriend, Dutch professional speed skater Jutta Leerdam, wasn't impressed. "I don't like it, it's not funny!" she told him in a video. "People believe it." Problematic undercurrents of homophobia aside, the trend paints a troubling picture of a future filled with photorealistic and eerily believable AI slop. The Sora app is only the latest demonstration that the tech is continuing to blur the lines between reality and a synthetic parallel universe dreamed up by generative AI. While Paul is basking in the limelight, many netizens have watched in horror as the internet continues to be overtaken by lowbrow slop. "Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad," Zelda Williams, daughter of the late Hollywood comedy icon Robin Williams, wrote in a recent Instagram Stories post. "Stop believing I wanna see it or that I'll understand, I don't and I won't." "AI is just badly recycling and regurgitating the past to be reconsumed," she added. "You are taking in the Human Centipede of content, and from the very, very end of the line, all while the folks at the front laugh and laugh, consume and consume." Other users are finding that their faces are being used even without having opted in, like Paul, suggesting OpenAI's "cameos" feature isn't nearly as safe as the company makes it out to be. "It is scary to think what AI is doing to feed my stalker's delusions," journalist Taylor Lorenz tweeted, revealing that her "psychotic stalker" was using Sora to generate videos of her. Sora has also fanned the flames of a heated debate surrounding the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials, with users generating copious clips of SpongeBob SquarePants and "South Park" characters. OpenAI eventually opted to come down hard on the trend, implementing guardrails that users now say make the app "completely boring and useless." In the meantime, Paul's own position seems a little ambivalent. "I've had it with the AI stuff," he said in a Wednesday video. "It's affecting my relationships, businesses." "It's really affecting things, and people really need to get a life," he added -- while haphazardly applying foundation to his cheeks using a makeup brush.

Jake Paul Opts In to Sora 2, and Chaos Follows

As most of mainstream Hollywood looks to opt out of OpenAI's new AI video app Sora, one content creator and boxer has clearly opted in and appears to be enjoying the free publicity. Since the launch of Sora 2 at the beginning of October, an app that allows users to generate hyperrealistic clips of not only themselves but also other permitted users, videos have quickly begun to flood social media, specifically TikTok. And there's one face that is notably being used the most: Jake Paul. In recent days, it's been quite difficult to scroll on the popular app and not see an AI video of Paul -- from him causing a scene on an airplane to being confronted by police over a hit-and-run. But the most common video theme has been videos of the boxer if he were a gay man who loves fashion and makeup (The real Paul is straight and currently engaged to Olympic speed skater Jutta Leerdam). Some people may be annoyed with thousands of fake videos of themselves flooding the internet, but Paul seems to be amused by it. I mean, he did have to opt in to have his likeness used through Sora. The youngest of the Paul brothers (Logan Paul is Jake's older brother) has already taken to his personal social media to respond to the abundance of AI videos, and has a good sense of humor about it all. He posted a TikTok video on Wednesday, saying in a serious tone, "I've had it with the AI stuff. It's affecting my relationship, businesses. People are hitting me up saying, 'Yo, did you say this? What did you do this for? I can't believe you did this?' It's really affecting things, and honestly, it's like people need to get a life, so it's kind of pissing me off. I'm gonna be suing everybody that is continuing to spread these false narratives of me doing shit that I would literally never, ever do. So be ready for lawsuits." However, as he's saying all of this, he's actually putting on makeup, just like in some of the AI videos. Paul also shared a Sora-created video on his Instagram Story of him appearing to have a meltdown at a Starbucks after they got his order wrong. He jokingly wrote on the post, "Surprised someone got this on camera this morning -- what happened to privacy?" The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Paul's rep for comment. Though Paul is enjoying the new AI video app (and is likely hoping to benefit from the first-user advantage when it comes to new social networks), there are plenty of others not exactly thrilled with the technology, especially in Hollywood. Major studio executives and talent agency chiefs have already raised concerns over Sora 2 and how their intellectual property or likenesses are being used on the app. Charles Rivkin, CEO of the Motion Picture Association, recently called on OpenAI to "prevent infringement" of "our members' films, shows, and characters." WME's head of digital strategy, Chris Jacquemin, has also said they were opting out all of the agency's clients from the latest update of the video tool. However, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has promised "to give rightsholders more granular control" over their IP. Robin Williams' daughter, Zelda Williams, also recently slammed people who are making AI-generated videos of her late father, calling the clips "gross." She added, "To watch the legacies of real people be condensed down to 'this vaguely looks and sounds like them so that's enough', just so other people can churn out horrible TikTok slop puppeteering them is maddening. You're not making art, you're making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music, and then shoving them down someone else's throat hoping they'll give you a little thumbs up and like it."