OpenAI's Sora Video Generator Leaked by Protesting Artists, Raising Ethical Concerns

Artists say they leaked OpenAI's Sora video model in protest

When contacted by The Verge, OpenAI would not confirm on the record if the alleged Sora leak was authentic or not. Instead, the company stressed that participation in its "research preview" is "voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool." "Sora is still in research preview, and we're working to balance creativity with robust safety measures for broader use," OpenAI spokesperson Niko Felix said in a statement. "Hundreds of artists in our alpha have shaped Sora's development, helping prioritize new features and safeguards. Participation is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool. We've been excited to offer these artists free access and will continue supporting them through grants, events, and other programs. We believe AI can be a powerful creative tool and are committed to making Sora both useful and safe."

Artists say they leaked OpenAI's Sora video model in protest

When contacted by The Verge, OpenAI would not confirm on the record if the alleged Sora leak was authentic or not. Instead, the company stressed that participation in its "research preview" is "voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool." "Sora is still in research preview, and we're working to balance creativity with robust safety measures for broader use," OpenAI spokesperson Niko Felix said in a statement. "Hundreds of artists in our alpha have shaped Sora's development, helping prioritize new features and safeguards. Participation is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool. We've been excited to offer these artists free access and will continue supporting them through grants, events, and other programs. We believe AI can be a powerful creative tool and are committed to making Sora both useful and safe."

OpenAI's Sora video generator (briefly) leaked in protest by early users

A group of artists invited to test OpenAI's Sora video generator ahead of its public release leaked access to the AI video model on Hugging Face for a few hours on Tuesday before being shut down. The "Sora PR Puppets" behind the leak used their access to enable anyone to generate 10-second videos from text prompts. The group's point was to push back against OpenAI over pressure to only talk about positive aspects of Sora and over a lack of compensation for their contributions. "We received access to Sora with the promise to be early testers, red teamers, and creative partners. However, we believe instead we are being lured into 'art washing' to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists," the group wrote in a post online. "Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback, and experimental work for the program for a $150B valued company. While hundreds contribute for free, a select few will be chosen through a competition to have their Sora-created films screened -- offering minimal compensation which pales in comparison to the substantial PR and marketing value OpenAI receives." For many, the biggest impact of the leak was a chance to play with the highly restricted Sora model. Until now, only professional filmmakers partnered with OpenAI had any real access. The results shared by those who had a chance to play with Sora before it shut down again are impressive, as can be seen below. The fact that Sora was in the wild without OpenAI's permission underscores the difficulties companies trying to collaborate with artists will face when it comes to AI. Hollywood writers, performers, and animators have all gone on strike partly over concerns about AI being deployed to replace them, and there's every indication that technical improvements will only heighten the tension between artists and AI developers. That said, the long delay between the announcement of Sora and any general release suggests Sora is far from where OpenAI wants it to be. While OpenAI has teamed with filmmakers to demonstrate Sora's capabilities, there have been no major partnerships announced. That's partly why the protesters leaked the model, to encourage a more open development approach by OpenAI. Whether it will motivate the company to do anything but kick them out of the program remains to be seen. "This early access program appears to be less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement," the group wrote. "We are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts (if we were, we probably wouldn't have been invited to this program). What we don't agree with is how this artist program has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release. We are sharing this to the world in the hopes that OpenAI becomes more open, more artist friendly and supports the arts beyond PR stunts."

OpenAI Sora video model access leaked as artists protest 'corporate AI overloads'

A group of artists volunteering as beta testers for OpenAI's new and unreleased AI video product, Sora, publicly shared access to the tool on Tuesday to protest what they said were the company's exploitative practices. In an open letter posted on the Hugging Face platform and addressed to "corporate AI overlords," the group published the access to Sora's API, the special code which allows outside users to access the tool. The group claimed they were invited by OpenAI to serve as Sora "testers" and "creative partners," but realized they were being "lured into 'art washing' to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists." They also maintained that OpenAI controlled and approved all outputs, and that the early-access program appeared to be "less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement." Sora is one of the most anticipated new products from OpenAI, the privately-held company that makes ChatGPT and which has been valued at $157 billion. Generative AI video technology has the potential to upend Hollywood and many of the other creative industries that rely on video creation, from advertising to art. As word spread online about access to the Sora model on Tuesday, users quickly began posting their video experiments. "It can be shut down anytime, try it now!" said one excited user on X. "It can generate 1080P and up to 10s video! And the results are incredible!" Following the leak, an OpenAI spokesperson confirmed that the company has "temporarily paused user access while we look into this." They emphasized that Sora is still in a research preview, and that "hundreds of artists" have shaped Sora's development, helping prioritize new features and safeguards. "Participation is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool," they said. "We've been excited to offer these artists free access and will continue supporting them through grants, events, and other programs. We believe AI can be a powerful creative tool and are committed to making Sora both useful and safe." Marc Rotenberg, executive director and founder of the Washington, DC-based Center for AI and Digital Policy, pointed out that the leak was "deeply ironic" since OpenAI was first established as a company whose research was open to all. "It's the reason that Elon Musk put money into it, and it was the subsequent commercialization that explains the reason he became disenchanted," he said. "So if you go back to his mission, I think you would celebrate what the artists did in this moment, but of course, if you're Microsoft and you just poured in $10 billion to further your proprietary model, this is probably not a good day," Rotenberg said, referring to Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI. It's important to note that the news of the API access is much less devastating than if the entire Sora model -- including the code and weights (which serve as the "brains" behind the model) had been leaked. OpenAI quickly shut down access to the leaked API on Tuesday. Still the fact that the company's own beta testers are protesting is notable: Over the past several years, artists have voiced growing concerns about exploitative practices in the realm of generative AI, particularly around issues of copyright and content usage. Generative AI models often rely on vast datasets scraped from publicly available digital content, much of which includes artwork, illustrations, and other creative works created by artists. In addition, AI-watchers have been extremely curious to find out how the highly-anticipated OpenAI's Sora model performs. In February, OpenAI released several high-definition video clips generated by Sora, but there have only been occasional demo videos released since then.

OpenAI's Sora Video Generator is Leaked Online by Angry Artists

A group of peeved artists protesting against "corporate AI overlords" have apparently leaked OpenAI's video generator Sora. The leak appears to have come from early Beta testers who are annoyed by what they call "unpaid R&D and PR." Sora was announced back in February but since then there's been no word on its release date. However, a slew of AI videos generated by Sora appeared online yesterday. "Dear corporate AI overlords We received access to Sora with the promise to be early testers, red teamers and creative partners. However, we believe instead we are being lured into 'art washing' to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists. ARTISTS ARE NOT YOUR UNPAID R&D ☠️ we are not your: free bug testers, PR puppets, training data, validation tokens ☠️" The letter goes on to say, "We are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts (if we were, we probably wouldn't have been invited to this program). What we don't agree with is how this artist program has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release. We are sharing this to the world in the hopes that OpenAI becomes more open, more artist friendly and supports the arts beyond PR stunts." Essentially, the artists' gripes come down to being, as they see it, unpaid testers and workers for a company that has raised billions of dollars and has a $150 billion valuation. They also object to OpenAI's demand that each output from Sora must be approved before sharing. "This early access program appears to be less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement," the letter adds. In a statement to The Verge, OpenAI refused to confirm whether the leak and genuine or not but says its "research preview" program is "voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool." "Sora is still in research preview, and we're working to balance creativity with robust safety measures for broader use," OpenAI spokesperson Niko Felix tells The Verge. "Hundreds of artists in our alpha have shaped Sora's development, helping prioritize new features and safeguards. Participation is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool. We've been excited to offer these artists free access and will continue supporting them through grants, events, and other programs. We believe AI can be a powerful creative tool and are committed to making Sora both useful and safe."

OpenAI's Sora leaked by protesting artists

The artists, in an open letter directed at OpenAI said; 'we are not your: free bug testers, PR puppets, training data, validation tokens'. OpenAI's unreleased Sora, an artificial intelligence (AI) text-to-video generating model was leaked by a group of artists yesterday (26 November). Although, access to the leaked AI model has since been revoked. The ChatGPT-maker first shared details on Sora in February. While it wasn't made available to the public, some visual artists, designers and filmmakers got early access to the model to give OpenAI feedback. However, yesterday, the artists, in protest of being OpenAI's "unpaid R&D," leaked the model and accused the company of using artists as a means of PR. In an open letter signed by nearly 600 signatures on Hugging Face, a public repository of AI models, the group said they received access to Sora with the "promise to be early testers, red teamers and creative partners". However, they claimed that they were instead "lured into 'art washing' to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists". The group said that hundreds of artists provided OpenAI, a company valued at more than $150bn "unpaid labour through bug testing, feedback and experimental work," with a few artists receiving the opportunity through a competition to screen their Sora-created films. The group claimed that this was "minimal compensation," 'paling' in comparison to the "substantial PR and marketing value OpenAI receives" and said that every output they created needed to be approved by OpenAI's team before they could share it. While the group behind the leak clarified that they are not against using AI for art, they claimed to not agree with how the Sora program is being rolled out. In March, OpenAI released some videos created by visual artists and directors using Sora, which included a short film titled Air Head, made by Toronto-based multimedia production company and indie pop band Shy Kids. "Since we introduced Sora to the world last month, we've been working with visual artists, designers, creative directors and filmmakers to learn how Sora might aid in their creative process," the company wrote in a blog. TechCrunch, who initially reported the leak said that any user can generate 10-second videos up to 1080p resolution by typing a short text description. Meanwhile, The Verge reported that OpenAI would not confirm whether the "alleged Sora leak" was authentic or not. Last year, OpenAI released Dall-E 3, its upgraded text-to-image generating model able to understand "significantly more nuance and detail" than its previous iterations. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

OpenAI's Sora was leaked in protest over allegations of 'art washing' | Digital Trends

OpenAI's unreleased Sora video generation model was leaked Tuesday by a group protesting the company's "art washing" actions, per a post from X user @legit_rumors. The group, calling themselves Sora PR Puppets, reportedly had gained early access to the Sora API. Through that, they leveraged authentication tokens to create a front-end interface enabling anyone to generate video clips with the model. While the project only remained online for around three hours before Hugging Face (or possibly OpenAI itself) revoked access, several users managed to publish their creations to social media sites. Recommended Videos Try it here:https://t.co/gnnkoj0jc2 If Sora, it looks like an optimised version. Can generate up to 1080 10-second clips. Suggest duplicating the space (if that works - my test didn't!). One example: pic.twitter.com/npphRJgyrd — Kol Tregaskes (@koltregaskes) November 26, 2024 "Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback and experimental work for the [early access] program for a $150B valued company," Sora PR Puppets wrote in their manifesto. "This early access program appears to be less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement." The group also accuses the company of screening videos generated during the early access program, demanding that it review and approve those clips prior to them being published. "We are releasing this tool to give everyone an opportunity to experiment with what ~300 artists were offered: a free and unlimited access to this tool," the group wrote. Conirmed: OpenAI Sora really has been leaked https://t.co/Vh1zzsKgPT pic.twitter.com/mAN1Z4vGsN — Chubby♨️ (@kimmonismus) November 26, 2024 "We are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts (if we were, we probably wouldn't have been invited to this program)," the group wrote. "What we don't agree with is how this artist program has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release. We are sharing this to the world in the hopes that OpenAI becomes more open, more artist friendly and supports the arts beyond PR stunts." another example from the public pic.twitter.com/nVPw1rZVB5 — ʟᴇɢɪᴛ (@legit_rumors) November 26, 2024 Users who were quick enough to access the interface before it was taken down were able to generate 10-second video clips in resolutions up to 1080p using what appears to be an optimized "turbo" version of what OpenAI first showed off in February. According to reports from The Information, that earlier iteration operated on a glacial timescale, requiring 10 minutes of real-world processing time to generate a minute-long video clip and continually struggled to maintain a consistent aesthetic style throughout each video. OpenAI, despite its early advantages in video generation technology, is quickly falling behind its competition in the space, with rivals like Meta's Movie Gen and Kuaishou Technology's Kling not only matching Sora's output quality but also reaching market while it languishes in development. OpenAI's chief product officer Kevin Weil said in a recent Reddit AMA that Sora's release is being delayed by the "need to perfect the model, get safety/impersonation/other things right, and scale compute."

OpenAI's Super-Powerful "Sora" AI Video Generator Appears to Have Leaked

"We are not your free bug testers, PR puppets, training data, validation tokens." A group of unhappy artists say they've leaked OpenAI's video generator Sora. The text-to-video model was first announced in February of this year, with the company showing off its impressive ability to generate photorealistic -- albeit imperfect -- video footage. But OpenAI has yet to publicly release the model, only allowing a small group of beta testers to take Sora for a spin. Now, though, a group of testers who claim to have gotten early access to the tool say they've leaked the model to the public in protest, as The Verge reports -- only for OpenAI to shut it down just three hours later. The artists used the opportunity to make a greater point about how the AI industry is exploiting labor by making them "PR puppets." "We received access to Sora with the promise to be early testers, red teamers, and creative partners," reads an open letter posted to public AI model repository Hugging Face. "However, we believe instead we are being lured into 'art washing' to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists," they added, referring to the process of covering up the shortcomings of a corporation by employing art in a positive way. "We are not your: free bug testers, PR puppets, training data, validation tokens," the letter reads. The artists took aim at OpenAI -- which has raised a tremendous amount of money by coming up with AI models that ingest the work of human artists and then churn out more in their style -- for demanding free labor. "Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback, and experimental work for the program for a $150B valued company," the letter reads. "While hundreds contribute for free, a select few will be chosen through a competition to have their Sora-created films screened," the artists wrote, "offering minimal compensation which pales in comparison to the substantial PR and marketing value OpenAI receives." The artists also criticized OpenAI for requiring "every output" to be screened "before sharing." "This early access program appears to be less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement," the letter reads. In a statement to The Verge, OpenAI spokesperson Niko Felix argued that participation in the preview is "voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool." "Sora is still in research preview, and we're working to balance creativity with robust safety measures for broader use," the statement reads. Besides safety concerns, OpenAI may also be delaying the rollout of Sora for a much more benign reason: the astronomical amount of computing power required to AI generate high-resolution videos.

OpenAI's AI video generator Sora was leaked in 'artist protest' -- here's what we know

OpenAI's yet-to-be-released flagship AI video generator Sora was leaked on HuggingFace yesterday. A group of disgruntled artists given early access decided to share it with the world in protest of being used as "PR puppets." Sora was first revealed to the world in February this year. It was significantly ahead of any other AI video generator at that time, although the likes of Kling, Runway, Luma Labs and Hailuo have started to catch up since then. In response to the leak and criticism OpenAI quickly shut down access for all users and said nobody with early access is under any obligation to use it or provide feedback. Instead of releasing it straight to the public, OpenAI put Sora through a rigorous red teaming and research preview process. This included making it available to a select group of industry experts and creatives. The aim was to improve the overall user experience while ensuring it can't create misinformation, illegal content, or videos of real people. A group of artists upset at this slow rollout and process decided to protest by sharing their access keys on HuggingFace for all to try. They wrote: "We received access to Sora with the promise to be early testers, red teamers and creative partners." The group say they felt lured into "art washing" and were forced to tell the world Sora is a "useful tool for artists". Access to the leaked Sora was quickly taken down. In fact, OpenAI were forced to remove access for anyone with permission to try Sora. The company said in a statement sent to Tom's Guide that participation in the alpha program is voluntary with no obligation to use the tool or provide feedback. The spokesperson added: "Hundreds of artists in our alpha have shaped Sora's development, helping prioritize new features and safeguards," explaining that "we've been excited to offer these artists free access and will continue supporting them through grants, events, and other programs. We believe AI can be a powerful creative tool and are committed to making Sora both useful and safe." Sora isn't ready for prime-time release. OpenAI described it as a "research preview" and from all indications it is still ahead of the competition in terms of motion, visual clarity and overall quality. There also appears to be a new Turbo mode that may have fixed some of the issues with slow generation. "Sora is still in research preview, and we're working to balance creativity with robust safety measures for broader use," the OpenAI spokesperson told me. As part of the Sora research preview period OpenAI has also provided access, and in some cases funding, for projects like the Tribeca Film Festival Sora Shorts program and exhibits at Heron Arts and the New York Gallery. The only responsibility any artist with early access to Sora had an obligation to uphold was to not share confidential details while it was still under development. They were also encouraged to provide honest feedback. I'd love to see Sora released and to some extent feel OpenAI is being over-cautious in the slow rollout given the rising competition. But, in my view, the time to share criticism of the actual platform if you've been given early access is once it goes live. Then you can tell the full story after others also have access.

OpenAI Sora leak: What it was and what it wasn't.

A group of artists that were early testers for OpenAI's Sora leaked access to the AI video generator on Tuesday. But let's get the facts straight so the story isn't oversimplified. OpenAI has since shut down access to Sora for all early testers. But for about three hours, the public could test out Sora for themselves. According to a statement shared with the demo hosted on Hugging Face, the artists released access to Sora as a protest against "art washing," which they believe they were "lured into" by OpenAI. But there's a little more nuance to the story to than "disgruntled anti-AI artists leak the model." Let's dive into what it was and wasn't. A leak of Sora may have sounded like a moment of truth that many had been waiting for. When OpenAI announced Sora last February, there was rampant speculation about what the AI video generator was trained on. Many artists believe Sora's training data was scraped from videos on YouTube and elsewhere on the web without explicit permission. OpenAI has refused to divulge any details, but based on copyright infringement lawsuits regarding its other models, the company maintains that publicly available data is fair use under copyright laws. But this is still very much up for debate as OpenAI and other companies face ongoing lawsuits about whether AI-generated content is sufficiently original and whether it commercially competes with human works. When TechCrunch first reported the leak, everyone was dying to look under the hood and see what Sora was made of. But the Sora leak doesn't offer any intel about the model or its training data. It was essentially a publicly available web-based demo, likely made possible by sharing API access. It appears to have just granted the public sneaky backdoor access to Sora's functionality on OpenAI's servers. But while anyone in the world was briefly able to generate Sora videos, this type of leak doesn't grant us any new information about the Sora model itself. The artists that made Sora publicly accessible did so because they felt like OpenAI was "exploiting artists for unpaid R&D and PR" by leveraging unpaid labor in form of bug testing and feedback. "Furthermore," the statement continued, "every output needs to be approved by the OpenAI team before sharing. This early access program appears to be less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement." The group wasn't mincing words when it called OpenAI "corporate AI overlords" complete with middle finger emoticons. However, they "are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts," since they wouldn't have been invited to participate as early testers otherwise, the group noted. What they are against is "how this artist program has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release." This is the kind of nuance that often gets lost in AI discourse. Many artists aren't opposed to using AI as a tool for creative expression. But opposing exploitation of creative works and job replacement by automation is often conflated with anti-innovation. We don't know exactly what it is about how Sora is "shaping up" ahead of its release that prompted the revolt, but it's safe to say OpenAI wants a positive review from its artist testers, hence the dissonance.

Artists Leak OpenAI's Sora Video Generator in 'PR Puppet' Protest

A group of artists leaked OpenAI's Sora video generator online, claiming the company is using them for unpaid beta testing and pressuring them to spin a positive narrative around the tool. "We received access to Sora with the promise to be early testers, red teamers, and creative partners," says a post authored by 14 artists under the username PR-Puppets. "However, we believe instead we are being lured into 'art washing' to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists." They say OpenAI requires every video clip to be approved before sharing, suggesting the early access program is "less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement." They also say OpenAI is exploiting them as unpaid beta testers. The artists published version of Sora on Hugging Face, which anyone could use to create 10-second video clips. The interface has since been shut down, but not before several people tried it and published their clips on social media. They bore OpenAI's visual AI watermark, TechCrunch reports. One engineer inspected the tool and found it to be legit, noting that the code pointed to the OpenAI Sora endpoint and used the group's early access tokens to generate videos. OpenAI shut down early access for all artists three hours after the post went up on Hugging Face, the group claims. "We are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts...What we don't agree with is how this artist program has been rolled out," the group says. "We are sharing this to the world in the hopes that OpenAI becomes more open, more artist friendly, and supports the arts beyond PR stunts." OpenAI tells PCMag artists have "no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool." There are no usage requirements to be in the beta program, and participation is voluntary. Feedback from those who choose to try Sora has helped the company "prioritize new features and safeguards." Sora debuted in Feb. 2024, surprising everyone with high-quality, 60-second video clips created with a simple text prompt. It kicked off a wave of video generators from Amazon, YouTube, Alibaba, and movie studio Lionsgate, but is still not available to the public. AI video generators come with notable risks, which require extra testing that could be prolonging Sora's public debut. Bad actors could use them to geneate harmful deepfakes, including hateful, violent, or sexually explicit content. This could also be one reason OpenAI wants to review the artists' clips before sharing. "Sora is still in research preview, and we're working to balance creativity with robust safety measures for broader use," OpenAI tells PCMag. "We believe AI can be a powerful creative tool and are committed to making Sora both useful and safe."

OpenAI hits pause on video model Sora after artists leak access in protest

A group of artists created a webpage allowing anyone to make AI videos using Sora. They argue the maker of ChatGPT used artists as "PR puppets" without pay. OpenAI suspended access to its unreleased but highly anticipated video generation tool Sora on Tuesday after a small group of artists leaked access to the tool in protest of the company's treatment of creative professionals who test the tool with minimal compensation, acting as "PR puppets." OpenAI had granted hundreds of artists free, early access to Sora, to test the new artificial intelligence video generator. But about 20 artists given access to the tool argued the company had taken advantage of their unpaid labor and were using them to burnish the company's image. To draw attention to OpenAI's practices, the group posted an online tool allowing the public to use Sora to generate videos. "Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback and experimental work for the program for a $150B valued company," the group wrote in a fiery statement posted on Hugging Face, an open source repository for artificial intelligence projects. The opportunities offered in return for helping the company, such as being selected to have their Sora-created films screened, offer "minimal compensation which pales in comparison to the substantial PR and marketing value OpenAI receives," the artists added. The tool was accessible for only three hours, the artists said, after OpenAI quickly shut down the interface. OpenAI spokesperson Niko Felix said the company is temporarily pausing all user access to Sora while it looks into the situation. "Hundreds of artists in our alpha have shaped Sora's development, helping prioritize new features and safeguards," Felix wrote in a statement from OpenAI. "Participation is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool." Although Tuesday's stunt was called a "leak" on social media, the artists did not have access to OpenAI's code or proprietary information. They created a public webpage that allowed anyone to make use of the Sora access OpenAI had provided to the artists for their private use and testing. The group's stunt was an unusual move in the AI industry, where feedback from early testers is tightly controlled by companies, and harsh criticism is rarely made public. Typically companies hand-select which outsiders receive early access to examine a system, in some cases requiring these users to sign nondisclosure agreements or obtain approval before publicly sharing any images, videos, or text responses generated by the system. The process of using outside testing, sometimes called "red teaming," -- a term borrowed from cybersecurity -- has been widely adopted across the AI industry, prompting even U.S. government agencies to follow a similar safety protocol. But recently a growing contingent of AI security experts, and now artists, critique the approach as having a chilling effect on independent research, reducing transparency, and preventing accountability for company practices. "We are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts (if we were, we probably wouldn't have been invited to this program)," the group of artists wrote on Hugging Face. OpenAI said in May that it was providing early access to Sora to "red teamers to assess critical areas for harms or risks" and "visual artists, designers, and filmmakers to gain feedback on how to advance the model to be most helpful for creative professionals." After OpenAI paused access to Sora, the artist group linked to a site encouraging anyone who shares their views to sign the open letter. It has received almost 100 signatures. The group behind the Hugging Face post declined to respond to questions. Sora has attracted scrutiny before, after OpenAI's former chief technology officer Mira Murati ducked questions about whether the company had used videos from YouTube to train the system. André Allen Anjos, a musician known as RAC who had been granted early access to Sora, told The Washington Post the group's stance did not reflect the view of most artists in the early access program. "If anything, everybody is excited about being involved. The team is led by artists and they're doing it right," he wrote, noting that program participants were under NDA so he did not have much more to share.

OpenAI's Sora text-to-video tool leaked by aggrieved beta testers

A group of aggrieved artists and early testers of OpenAI's unreleased text-to-video tool Sora leaked access to the new model in an act of protest after they claimed to have been used for "unpaid research and development." The group published what appears to be a front-end version of Sora to AI developer platform HuggingFace on Nov. 26, allowing anyone to utilize the tool to create -- however OpenAI has reportedly since intervened to shut it down. The leak was carried out by a group of artists and beta testers operating collectively under the username "PR-Puppets." "We received access to Sora with the promise to be early testers, red teamers, and creative partners. However, we believe that instead we are being lured into 'art washing' to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists," the group said. According to the open letter published alongside the leak of Sora, the group claimed that "hundreds of artists" provided unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback, and experimental work only to find themselves excluded from any hope of compensation or recognition from OpenAI. The artists claim that OpenAI -- now privately valued at $157 billion -- was unfairly preventing artists and contributors from being paid for testing, feedback, and development. The tool was online for several hours before it was taken down, and a number of users were quick to post examples of videos generated by the leaked version of the tool on X. "It's impressive how well it handles arms and legs," wrote film director Huang Lu in a Nov. 26 post to X, alongside a clip from the leaked tool. The leaked version of Sora appears to be a faster "turbo" variant, according to code uncovered by X users, with additional lines of code also hinting at certain controls on customization and styles of video to be generated in the future. Related: Salesforce CEO says LLM 'upper limits' reached, future of AI is agents Sora was first unveiled by OpenAI on Feb. 16 and wowed X users with the level of hyper-realistic video content it could generate from simple prompts. According to a Feb. 17 report from The Information, OpenAI had been training Sora on "hundreds of millions of hours" of video clips in a bid to cover a wide range of styles and improve the overall quality of its AI-generated footage. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

OpenAI's Sora appears to have leaked | TechCrunch

A group appears to have leaked access to Sora, OpenAI's video generator, in protest of what they're calling duplicity and "art washing" on OpenAI's part. On Tuesday, the group published a project on the AI dev platform Hugging Face seemingly connected to OpenAI's Sora API, which hasn't yet been made public. Using their authentication tokens -- presumably from an early access program -- they created a frontend that lets any user generate videos with Sora. The group's UI lets users generate 10-second videos up to 1080p resolution. So why did the group do this? They claim that OpenAI is pressuring Sora's early testers, including red teamers and creative partners, to "tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists" and failing to compensate them for their feedback. "Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback and experimental work for the program for a $150B valued [sic] company," the group wrote in a post attached to the frontend. The group also claims that OpenAI is being deceptive about which Sora-generated videos make their way into the public sphere. Only a few creators in the early access program will be chosen through a competition to have their Sora-created films screened, they say, and every Sora output needs to be approved by the OpenAI team before sharing. "This early access program appears to be less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement," they wrote. "We are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts (if we were, we probably wouldn't have been invited to this program). What we don't agree with is how this artist program has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release. We are sharing this to the world in the hopes that OpenAI becomes more open, more artist friendly and supports the arts beyond PR stunts." We've reached out to Hugging Face and OpenAI for comment and will update this piece once we hear back.

OpenAI's Sora Video AI Model Reportedly Leaked Online Briefly

The group has also shared a petition and asked people to sign it OpenAI's Sora video generation model, which was unveiled in February but has not been released yet, appears to have been briefly leaked online. On Tuesday, an anonymous group hosted an artificial intelligence (AI) video model on Hugging Face and claimed it to be OpenAI's Sora. The model details highlighted that the backend server was the AI firm's domain, and the model name suggested it was the Turbo variant. The AI model was said to be listed on the platform for three hours before its access was removed. A Hugging Face listing appeared on November 26 and claimed to be publicly giving access to OpenAI's Sora model. The anonymous group behind the move also created a front-end using which anyone could generate AI videos. While Gadgets 360 staff members were not able to generate videos using it, several social media users have posted videos generated using the tool. The AI model could generate 10-second-long videos in 1080p resolution and the videos carried the distinct OpenAI watermark, which led to the belief that the group's claim about it being Sora was likely true. Other evidence pointing towards it being Sora includes the backend server which was listed as "https://sora.openai.com/backend/video_gen" and the variant name mentioned as "Turbo". Explaining the reason behind leaking and posting the early version of Sora online, the group said that OpenAI used artists as "unpaid R&D" and made them provide the company with free bug tests, training data, validation tokens, and positive marketing. "Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labour through bug testing, feedback and experimental work for the program[..]offering minimal compensation which pales in comparison to the substantial PR and marketing value OpenAI receives," it said on the Hugging Face listing. The group also said that while they were not against the use of AI as a tool for art, they did not agree with OpenAI's artist programme. The group added that this was their way to urge the company to be more open, artist-friendly, and supportive of art. They also shared a petition that can be signed by those who agree with the message. Notably, the group was part of the three hundred artists who received unlimited access to Sora to be its early testers, red teamers, and creative partners. For three hours, the front-end of the AI model was said to be working, then the group highlighted that the AI firm had shut down Sora's early access for all artists. A company spokesperson told TechCrunch that Sora remains in a research preview as OpenAI works to balance the AI model's performance with robust safety measures. The spokesperson also added that participation as an early tester is voluntary "with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool." The artists were asked to use the AI model responsibly and refrain from sharing confidential details till the model's launch, the statement concluded.

Protesters leak OpenAI's Sora tool, slam artist exploitation

The protest centres on claims that OpenAI is coercing early testers, including artists and creative partners, to present a positive narrative about Sora while undercompensating them. "Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labour through bug testing, feedback, and experimental work for the (Sora early access) program for a $150 billion valued company," the group wrote.A group calling itself 'Sora PR Puppets' claims to have leaked access to OpenAI's unreleased video generation tool, Sora, in protest against what it terms "duplicity" and "art washing" by the tech giant, TechCrunch reported. The group's actions have reignited debate over artist rights and transparency in the AI industry. On Tuesday, the group uploaded a project to Hugging Face that appeared to exploit Sora's API. Using authentication tokens likely obtained via early access, they built a frontend allowing users to generate 10-second, 1080p videos from text prompts. OpenAI shut down Sora's early access program within three hours, according to the group. The protest centres on claims that OpenAI is coercing early testers, including artists and creative partners, to present a positive narrative about Sora while undercompensating them. "Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labour through bug testing, feedback, and experimental work for the (Sora early access) program for a $150 billion valued company," the group wrote. "This early access program appears to be less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement." OpenAI's process also came under fire, with the group alleging the company heavily restricts the use of Sora. The group stated that all outputs must be pre-approved by OpenAI and that only select creators have been permitted to showcase their work publicly. In response, an OpenAI spokesperson defended the program, describing Sora as a "research preview" shaped by artists through voluntary participation. "Hundreds of artists in our alpha have shaped Sora's development, helping prioritise new features and safeguards," the spokesperson said. "We've been excited to offer these artists free access and will continue supporting them through grants, events and other programs." OpenAI rivals like Runway and Stability AI have gained ground, with Stability recently enlisting 'Avatar' director James Cameron. OpenAI's efforts to secure Hollywood partnerships have yet to yield significant announcements. The group hopes the protest prompts OpenAI to foster greater transparency and genuine support for the arts, rather than focusing on public relations campaigns.

OpenAI's text-to-video AI tool Sora leaked in protest by artists

OpenAI's new video-generation artificial intelligence tool Sora was briefly leaked by artists testing the new model, which some creative industries fear could pose a disruptive threat. A project on developer platform Hugging Face on Tuesday appeared to be connected to the application programming interface for OpenAI's Sora, enabling others to access the model and generate videos using the AI. Several testers uploaded a letter to the platform accusing OpenAI of taking advantage of "hundreds of artists [who] provide unpaid labour through bug testing, feedback and experimental work" in so-called "redteaming" of Sora -- a term used for early testing of AI models. After several hours, OpenAI shut off early access for artists, according to a message on the Hugging Face page. It illustrates the conflict between the start-up behind the leading AI model, recently valued at $150bn, and the artists who stand to lose the most from Sora, which can turn text into video. OpenAI's chief executive Sam Altman and other executives have this year been courting Hollywood executives, to showcase Sora and assuage fears it may lead to a loss of jobs in films. Dubbing themselves "PR Puppets", the letter was addressed to "corporate AI overlords" and accused OpenAI of "artwashing". "We are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts . . . What we don't agree with is how this artist programme has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release." Sora was unveiled at the beginning of this year but has not been widely released. OpenAI has only granted access to a small number of visual artists, designers and filmmakers to gather feedback on its potential harms, risks and areas for improvement. According to the artists, only minimal compensation was offered to testers, while some would be able to compete to have films created with Sora screened. "This early access programme appears to be less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement," it added. The collective of artists and signatories confirmed the letter to the Financial Times. TechCrunch first reported the leak. OpenAI said Sora was still in preview mode for research purposes, and it was "working to balance creativity with robust safety measures for broader use". It added participation in its testing was voluntary with "no obligation to provide feedback" -- and artists using the tool are required to refrain from sharing confidential details while it is under development. Last month, more than 11,000 creative professionals -- including actors Julianne Moore and Kevin Bacon, Radiohead singer Thom Yorke and a host of writers and musicians -- signed an open letter that called generative AI "a major, unjust threat" to creatives' livelihoods. In a recent discussion on Reddit, OpenAI's chief product officer Kevin Weil said Sora's wider release had been delayed by the "need to perfect the model", including in areas such as safety and scaling computing power for the model.

Artists briefly leak access to OpenAI's Sora video generator - SiliconANGLE

Artists briefly leak access to OpenAI's Sora video generator A group of artists has leaked access to Sora, an OpenAI artificial intelligence model designed for video generation that is currently in private alpha. The artists made Sora's application programming interface accessible via Hugging Face, Quartz reported today. OpenAI blocked access to the API after about three hours. Sora debuted in February and is currently not available to the public. It allows users to generate videos up to one minute in length with natural language prompts. A prompt can contain several sentences describing what objects a clip should depict, how those objects should interact and other details. Under the hood, Sora is based on the same transformer neural network architecture that underpins OpenAI's language models. It uses a technique called diffusion to generate clips. Diffusion produces video content through a multistep process: Sora first creates an early version of a clip that contains a large amount of noise and then gradually polishes the video in several increments. When OpenAI debuted the model in February, it detailed plans to share it with a limited number of artists through an early access program. The company stated that the goal is to collect feedback on how Sora can be made more useful for creative professionals. OpenAI also shared the model's API with a number of red teamers, cybersecurity experts who focus on identifying vulnerabilities and other issues in AI models. Sora's API was posted to Hugging Face by a group of about 20 artists who participated in the early access program. They explained that they leaked access to the model because they found fault in how OpenAI managed the program. "What we don't agree with is how this artist program has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release," they wrote. The group took issue with the fact that Sora-generated videos must be approved by OpenAI before they can be shared. Additionally, the artists criticized an initiative through which the ChatGPT developer plans to screen films created by some early Sora testers. The initiative offers "minimal compensation which pales in comparison to the substantial PR and marketing value OpenAI receives," the artists wrote on Hugging Face. OpenAI said in a statement that "hundreds of artists in our alpha have shaped Sora's development, helping prioritize new features and safeguards. Participation is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool." OpenAI has not yet provided a release date for Sora. The company did, however, share plans to add C2PA support in the event that it decides to make the model commercially available. C2PA is a technology that makes it easier to determine if a video was generated by AI. If OpenAI decides to commercialize Sora, it may also release new versions that address some of the limitations in the model's current iteration. The company divulged in February that Sora sometimes struggles to "simulate the physics of a complex scene." On occasions, the model also misinterprets prompts that include "spatial details" such as the direction in which an object should move. OpenAI's DALL-E series of image generation models, which is already commercially available, has received several major upgrades since its release. The company has also built it into ChatGPT. It's possible OpenAI will add a similar integration to Sora if and when it decides to make the video generator commercially available.

OpenAI Suspends Video Model Sora Following Artist Backlash

OpenAI has suspended access to its highly anticipated video generation tool, Sora, following a significant backlash from a group of artists who accused the company of exploiting their work for unpaid labor. The controversy arose when a small number of beta testers leaked the early access version of Sora, claiming they had been misled into participating in an unpaid research and promotional campaign. Sora, OpenAI's cutting-edge AI video generator, was first teased in February and promised to revolutionize content creation. To test the tool before its public release, OpenAI invited hundreds of artists to become early testers. However, a group of about 20 artists quickly voiced their discontent, accusing the company of using them as "PR puppets" to promote the tool under the guise of a collaborative artist program. The artists argued that they were not adequately compensated for their contributions and labeled the initiative as "art washing" -- a practice where companies co-opt artists to give credibility to their products without fair remuneration. In protest, the artists allegedly leaked a working version of Sora's interface to the public, allowing others to generate AI videos that closely resembled OpenAI's own demos.

Artists Stick It to 'AI Overlords' and Leak OpenAI's Sora Video Generator

A group of artists who say they were given early access to OpenAI's Sora video generation model released a version of the tool to the public. For a short time on Tuesday, a group of pissed-off artists shared a tool that allowed anyone to use OpenAI's officially unreleased Sora AI model, which takes text prompts and turns them into videos. In an open letter titled "Dear Corporate AI Overlords," accompanied by illustrations of figures raiding their middle fingers, the artists wrote that they'd been offered early access to Sora to test the product and be creative partners. Instead, they believe OpenAI wanted to use hundreds of unpaid AI artists like them for the purpose of "art washing" an exploitative business model. "Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback and experimental work for the program for a $150B valued company," the group wrote on the AI model-hosting platform Hugging Face. "While hundreds contribute for free, a select few will be chosen through a competition to have their Sora-created films screenedâ€"offering minimal compensation which pales in comparison to the substantial PR and marketing value OpenAI receives." The letter was authored by 16 artists who said they weren't opposed to the use of AI as an artistic toolâ€"in fact, many of them are early adopters of AI in their workâ€"but they felt the need to protest against an early access program that appeared to be a public relations ploy rather than an opportunity to freely experiment with and critique the tool. Any videos they created using the tool had to be approved by OpenAI before being shared, they said. "What we don't agree with is how this artist program has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release," the group wrote. "We are sharing this to the world in the hopes that OpenAI becomes more open, more artist-friendly and supports the arts beyond PR stunts." The tool posted to Hugging Face no longer works and a note added to the top of the letter says that OpenAI has temporarily shut down the Sora early access program for artists. OpenAI teased Sora on February 15 with a webpage featuring videos generated by the model and in a series of tweets from CEO Sam Altman, who posted videos on X that the model generated based on crowdsourced prompts. Altman called it a "remarkable moment" but Sora has yet to be released for use beyond a small group of early testers, some of whom were clearly not thrilled with the way OpenAI wanted to use their labor. In their letter, the artist group urged their peers to use open-source video generation tools and encouraged AI companies to "listen to and provide a path to true artist expression, with fair compensation to the artists."

OpenAI suspends access to Sora video generation tool after artists protest

Earlier this year OpenAI unveiled Sora, a text-to-video AI model, showing off detailed scenes and complex camera motion from relatively simple prompts. It's been radio silence since then, but the company recently granted artists free early access to the tool for testing. However, a group off around 20 of those just leaked access to Sora in protest, saying they were acting as "PR puppets," prompting OpenAI to suspend access, The Washington Post reported. "We received access to Sora with the promise to be early testers, red teamers and creative partners. However, we believe instead we are being lured into 'art washing' to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists," the group wrote on the AI art repository site, Hugging Face. Pointing out that OpenAI recently hit a $150 billion evaluation, they noted that artists have been providing unpaid testing and feedback. The group also noted that all Sora-generated content needed to be approved by OpenAI, making it "less about creative expression... and more about PR and advertisement." The group then said it had released the tool to let anyone play with it, saying it hopes that OpenAI will "support the arts beyond PR stunts." In response, OpenAI shut down early Sora access after just three hours while it looks into the situation. "Hundreds of artists in our alpha have shaped Sora's development, helping prioritize new features and safeguards," OpenAI spokesperson Niko Felix wrote in a message to The Post. "Participation is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool." Another artist in the program, André Allen Anjos, chimed in as well saying that the protest artists' stance didn't reflect the views of most artists in the program. Though Sora isn't yet widely available, the tool has been scrutinized over its training materials. In March, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said she wasn't sure if Sora took training data from YouTube or other video platforms. The next month, YouTube's CEO specifically warned OpenAI that training models on its videos was against its terms of service.

Sora 2.0 Leak: How OpenAI's Video Model Sparked Contributor Concerns

The unexpected leak of OpenAI's Sora 2.0 video generation model has stirred significant discussion within the AI community. Early testers with exclusive access to the model shared its API key on Hugging Face, a widely used AI collaboration platform, granting public access to a tool still under development. This breach has highlighted concerns about transparency, contributor relations, and ethical practices in the fast-moving world of AI development. At the same time, the leak has generated excitement over the model's advanced capabilities. The leaked version of Sora 2.0, demonstrates the model's ability to generate coherent video clips with seamless transitions based on detailed prompts. It provides a glimpse into the potential future of creative technology. However, the excitement over its functionality is overshadowed by frustrations expressed by contributors, who felt undervalued despite their role in shaping the project. For many, this incident raises critical questions about fairness and recognition in AI collaborations. The controversy surrounding Sora 2.0 underscores a broader challenge: balancing innovation with ethical responsibility. The lessons from this leak go beyond security breaches -- they point to the need for greater transparency and equitable treatment of contributors in shaping the next generation of AI tools. As OpenAI and the industry move forward, addressing these issues will be vital to fostering trust and ensuring sustainable progress. The leak originated from dissatisfaction among early access testers invited to use Sora 2.0 in exchange for feedback and contributions. Feeling exploited, some testers publicly shared the API key, exposing the model to unauthorized use. This act not only revealed the model's capabilities but also highlighted deeper frustrations regarding OpenAI's treatment of contributors. Testers accused the company of undervaluing their efforts, citing a lack of recognition and support despite OpenAI's valuation exceeding $150 billion. The breach has brought to light critical issues in OpenAI's collaboration model, including accusations of inadequate communication and an imbalance between the company's financial success and its treatment of collaborators. These grievances have sparked broader discussions about the ethical responsibilities of AI developers in fostering equitable and transparent partnerships. Testers have expressed dissatisfaction with OpenAI's approach to collaboration, accusing the company of "artwashing" -- a term used to describe using unpaid labor from artists and contributors to enhance a company's public image. Their complaints include: These concerns have fueled calls for OpenAI to adopt more transparent and ethical practices, particularly in its engagement with contributors who play a vital role in refining AI models. Many testers argue that their input is essential to improving the technology, yet they feel sidelined in the process. Despite the controversy, Sora 2.0 has captured attention for its advanced video generation capabilities. The model is designed to create coherent video clips from detailed prompts, offering seamless transitions between scenes. Its standout features include: These advancements address persistent challenges in AI video generation, such as maintaining visual coherence and reducing processing time. However, early testers have pointed out areas for improvement, particularly in achieving consistent style across frames and further optimizing speed. OpenAI is reportedly working to refine these aspects before the model's official release. Sora 2.0 incorporates innovative technologies to enhance video generation. Its scene transition mechanisms ensure smooth and natural shifts between segments, while its prompt coherence feature enables detailed and accurate outputs. The model's flexibility in operation modes and customization options makes it a versatile tool for creators, offering significant potential for applications in fields such as entertainment, education, and marketing. However, the leak has revealed that some features remain under development. For instance, maintaining consistent visual styles across frames is still a challenge, and testers have noted occasional discrepancies in object representation. These limitations underscore the ongoing nature of AI development and the importance of iterative refinement to meet user expectations. The AI community's response to the Sora 2.0 leak has been mixed. On one hand, many have praised the model's technical achievements and its potential to transform video generation. On the other hand, the incident has reignited debates about the ethics of AI development and the treatment of contributors. Critics have called out OpenAI for its handling of the early access program, arguing that the company failed to adequately support and recognize testers. Some have also questioned the broader implications of relying on unpaid labor to refine innovative technologies. Meanwhile, supporters of OpenAI have expressed excitement about Sora 2.0's capabilities, emphasizing its potential to set new benchmarks in AI video generation. OpenAI has largely remained silent about the leak, opting to mute discussions on its official platforms. The company appears to be focusing on refining Sora 2.0 for an eventual public release, addressing key issues such as speed, quality, and consistency. However, it has yet to publicly address the grievances raised by testers, leaving many questions unanswered. The controversy highlights the need for OpenAI to adopt more transparent and ethical practices as it continues to push the boundaries of AI technology. Moving forward, the company faces mounting pressure to rebuild trust with its community and establish a more equitable framework for collaboration. This incident serves as a reminder of the challenges inherent in balancing innovation with ethical responsibility in the fast-paced world of AI development. The Sora 2.0 leak underscores both the immense potential and the complex challenges of innovative AI technology. While the model's capabilities have impressed many, the incident has exposed critical issues in how AI companies engage with their contributors and manage sensitive development processes. As OpenAI works to refine Sora 2.0, it must also address the broader implications of this controversy. The company has an opportunity to set a higher standard for transparency, accountability, and ethical collaboration in AI development. By doing so, OpenAI can not only rebuild trust with its community but also pave the way for more sustainable and inclusive practices in the industry.

OpenAI and artists are at war over over the ChatGPT maker's Sora video tool

ChatGPT maker OpenAI halted the rollout of its new text-to-video generator, Sora, after testers leaked the tool to the public over concerns about exploitative business practices. Artists who were given early access leaked Sora on artificial intelligence platform Hugging Face under the username PR-Puppets. Just three hours after its limited release, OpenAI removed access to Sora for all artists. The artists said in an open letter Tuesday, addressed to "Corporate AI Overlords," that they were being "lured into 'art washing' to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists." They said that while they are not against AI being used in creative work, they don't agree with how the artist program was rolled out and how the tool is shaping up. "We are not your: free bug testers, PR puppets, training data, validation tokens," the artists wrote. As of Wednesday morning, more than 630 people had signed the letter. The situation highlights both the ethical and existential tension between the art world and AI. Beta testers, including filmmakers and visual artists, behind the open letter criticized the early access program for being "less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement," noting that "every output needs to be approved by the OpenAI team before sharing." Access to videos generated using Sora was removed, but some anonymous users on Hugging Face archived dozens of videos and corresponding prompts and shared them on other social media platforms, including X (former Twitter) and Reddit. In May, OpenAI said that it would provide access to Sora to "red teamers to assess critical areas for harms or risks," as well as to "visual artists, designers, and filmmakers to gain feedback on how to advance the model to be most helpful for creative professionals." Sora was first released to testers in February. The tool is what's known as a diffusion model, meaning it generates video by starting with a blurry, static-filled image that smoothes it into a polished final version.

Testers Leak OpenAI's New AI Video Generator, Claiming They Were Used as 'Unpaid Labor'

Our biggest sale -- Get unlimited access to Entrepreneur.com at an unbeatable price. Use code SAVE50 at checkout.* On Tuesday, a group of 16 artists leaked OpenAI's unreleased Sora text-to-video generator to the public. In an open letter addressed to "Corporate AI Overlords" and posted on the AI hosting platform Hugging Face, the artists explained that they obtained early access to Sora in exchange for testing it. They said they weren't against AI as an artistic tool and wouldn't have been invited to the program alongside about 300 other artists if they were. However, they now believe that OpenAI was trying to use their feedback to "art wash" or to tell other artists that Sora is useful. They also took fault with OpenAI for not compensating them for their efforts. Related: 'I Am Absolutely Terrified': OpenAI's New Project Isn't 'Broadly' Available Yet -- But It's Already Setting Off Alarm Bells "Artists are not your unpaid R&D [Research and Development]," the artists wrote. "Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback and experimental work for the program for a $150B valued company." The artists claimed that OpenAI controlled which AI-generated videos it made public by mandating that each shared video created with Sora receive the company's approval. They accused OpenAI of making the early access program less about creative critique and more about free PR for the company and said they weren't "PR puppets." In an effort to fight back, the creatives leaked Sora to the public on Tuesday and allowed a broader pool of users to experiment with the tool for free. OpenAI shut down early access to Sora after the leak had been live for three hours; the tool posted to Hugging Face is no longer functional. An OpenAI spokesperson told the Washington Post that participating in the Sora early access program "is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool." Related: Here's What Sora, OpenAI's Text-to-Video Creator, Can Really Do OpenAI announced Sora in February, with CEO Sam Altman crowdsourcing prompts from people on X to create videos. At that point, the company decided not to make the tool publicly available. In July, OpenAI published multiple videos artists created using Sora, including a two-minute, nine-second video created by artist Tammy Lovin that brings surreal visuals to life.

OpenAI is at war with its own Sora video testers following brief public leak

OpenAI has cut off testing access to its Sora video generation platform after a group of artists briefly shared their own early access in a publicly usable webpage Tuesday. The group, going by the moniker PR Puppets, claims the stunt was a protest against being asked to work as unpaid R&D and bug testers while participating in "art washing" of AI tools. But OpenAI says participation in the early alpha test is voluntary and has no requirements that testers provide feedback. PR Puppets posted its "Generate with Sora" access point to Hugging Face at about 8:30 Eastern time Tuesday morning, according to Git commit logs. Quickly, AI experts on social media noticed the posting and confirmed that the page connected to endpoints on OpenAI's actual Sora API and hosting on a videos.openai.com domain, presumably with authentication tokens provided to testers by OpenAI itself. That access was revoked within hours, but not before plenty of eager followers managed to generate their own videos and share them on social media. An OpenAI spokesperson told The Washington Post the company is temporarily pausing all test access to Sora to evaluate the situation. Other users dug into the code to discover hints of different modes and "styles" that might be in development for Sora. In an open letter addressed to their "Corporate AI Overlords," the PR Puppets group said that it was protesting on behalf of roughly 300 artists that had been provided early access to Sora only to "provide unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback and experimental work for the program for a $150B valued company [OpenAI]." The group claimed only a select few of those artists will see their work pay off in the form of wider screening for their Sora-created films and complained that OpenAI requires approval before any Sora alpha output can be shared publicly.

OpenAI's Sora Video Model Leak Exposes Deep Rift With Artists -- Unpaid R&D, PR Puppets, And Content Approval Fury: What You Need To Know - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI's unreleased Sora text-to-video AI model has reportedly been leaked by a group of beta testers protesting its handling of artists. What Happened: A group of Sora beta testers claimed responsibility for leaking access to the model on Tuesday, which included a working interface, on Hugging Face, a public repository for AI tools. According to an open letter, the artists accused OpenAI of exploiting their work for "unpaid R&D" and "art washing." They alleged that the company used them to create promotional credibility while denying fair compensation. "We are sharing this to the world in the hopes that OpenAI becomes more open, more artist friendly, and supports the arts beyond PR stunts," the letter read. See Also: Consumer Tech News (Nov 18-Nov 22): US DOJ Demands Google To Divest Chrome Browser, Gemini AI Available On Apple & More OpenAI did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments. Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox. Why It Matters: Last month, OpenAI's valuation soared to $157 billion following a successful funding round. OpenAI's potential shift from a nonprofit to a for-profit model has led to a financial and governance tug-of-war with Microsoft Corporation MSFT, which has invested nearly $14 billion in the company since 2019. ChatGPT-maker has also been grappling with a series of high-profile exits, including its CTO Mira Murati, who in March said that Sora was expected to launch by the end of 2024. At the time she also said that the company would not release the model unless they were confident in its ability to avoid negative impacts, such as influencing global elections. Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock Read Next: Marc Benioff Says Future Of AI Not In Bots Like ChatGPT But In Autonomous Agents: We Aren't At The Moment Seen In Those 'Crazy' Movies Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs