OpenAI's Sora 2: A Leap Forward in AI Video Generation

Just How Good Is Sora 2 at Faking Reality? I Put It to the Test

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. Earlier this year, Google Gemini's Veo 3 model brought realistic AI video generation with audio to the mainstream. However, Veo 3 now faces serious competition from OpenAI's Sora 2, which offers the same capabilities. Here, I explain how you can access Sora 2, what it actually does, and if it's any good. What Is Sora? Sora is ChatGPT's AI video generation model, but it's also accessible as a dedicated app separate from ChatGPT. It's been around for a while, but it couldn't generate audio nor match the quality of Gemini's Veo 3 model until the recent Sora 2 update. OpenAI didn't just update Sora, though; it also updated the Sora app for iOS, which is basically TikTok for AI-generated videos: You can scroll through an infinite selection of 10-second-long videos that others have made with Sora, complete with comments and likes. Where Is Sora Available and How Do You Access It? Sora is currently available on iOS and the web. However, it's invite-only at the time of writing. If you have an invite, you can use it on both platforms. According to OpenAI, Sora 2 is initially available for free with generous limits, but I suspect you will eventually have to pay for a premium plan to use it regularly. If you pay for ChatGPT's $200-per-month Pro plan, you get access to Sora 2 Pro, which is an experimental, higher-quality version of Sora 2. Sora 2 Pro is currently accessible only on the web, but OpenAI plans to bring it to the iOS app soon. If you enjoyed using the original Sora, Sora 1 Turbo is still available, along with all the content you generated with it. However, it's unclear how long this will be the case. Considering the backlash OpenAI experienced after removing legacy models with the release of GPT-5, however, I expect Sora 1 Turbo access to stick around for a while. What Can (and Can't) You Do With Sora? First and foremost, Sora generates AI videos. These can be pretty much anything, such as an anime scene you dream up or a fictional clip of a content creator playing Minecraft. Simply write a prompt, and Sora creates a video in about a minute or two. Once you generate a video, it exists as a draft that you can then publish, making it accessible in Sora's TikTok-style feed. Sora has a couple of other interesting features. For one, you can generate videos based on images you upload. You currently can't create videos based on images with real people, but OpenAI's documentation strongly implies that capability is coming eventually. In the meantime, you can generate videos of real people with the Cameo system. Essentially, you record a short video clip of your face and voice as your Cameo. Then, you can generate videos with yourself in them. Depending on your privacy settings, you can also allow other people to generate videos with your Cameo. For example, if you want to make a video with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, simply include @sama in your prompt. For instance, "@sama explaining why Sora is better than Veo 3." Although Sora prohibits sexual content (unlike Grok's Imagine AI video model), there's still a small chance that Sora will generate it anyway. Similarly, Sora restricts any content that it deems violent. You can refer to OpenAI's guidelines on what you are and aren't allowed to do with Sora for the specifics. However, these guidelines are somewhat confusing. For instance, even though Sora doesn't allow you to create videos of real people without their explicit permission, clips of dead celebrities and historical figures currently dominate Sora. Popular Sora videos include Bob Ross and Jesus, among others. First Impressions of Sora: Is It Any Good? I tested Veo 3 when it launched, and using Sora has been a very similar experience. In short, Sora 2's AI audio and video quality can be quite good. "Can" is the operative word, though, as it's easy to encounter distortion and errors in your videos. That said, with a little prompt tweaking and multiple generations, it's not difficult to make something impressive. Compared with the original, Sora 2 is much better at rendering complex motion. For example, the original version couldn't generate a video of someone solving a Rubik's Cube without major issues. Sora 2, though, does a significantly better job. The audio quality of Sora 2 videos is a bit hit or miss in my experience. Sometimes, it sounds great, but other times, the audio has a robotic, uncanny quality to it. It performs about the same as Veo 3 here. If you use a Cameo to generate a video of yourself, the results don't disappoint. It's hard to describe the vaguely unsettling feeling of seeing a lifelike facsimile of yourself doing and saying things you've never done, but it's undeniably impressive. However, Cameo-based videos aren't free of the issues I mentioned above, so you still need to do some prompt engineering and run through multiple generations to make something really believable. Sora's App: AI TikTok The Sora app is unique in the AI video space. (Veo 3 doesn't offer any sort of social component.) OpenAI is actively working to transform the Sora app into the TikTok of AI-generated videos. Some of these videos are undeniably amusing, and I appreciate the ability to comment on them as well. Still, it's hard to appreciate that function too much when the majority of the comments are some variation of "wow" or someone begging for followers, at least at the time of writing. I'm grateful that OpenAI created a social media platform for AI-generated videos, because it may help reduce the AI content I see on my TikTok and YouTube Short feeds. But, on the other hand, while some of the technology at play here is cool, I can't help but wonder what the point of it all is: Is the ability to generate AI meme videos really worth building 60 football fields' worth of AI infrastructure every week or uprooting rural families? Is Your Data Safe With Sora? Since Sora is an OpenAI product, your data is as safe as it is with ChatGPT. In its privacy policy, OpenAI outlines how it collects significant amounts of data and uses that data to train its models by default. OpenAI doesn't specifically mention Sora in its privacy policy, so there's little reason to believe that it handles Sora-related data in a meaningfully different way. How well does OpenAI secure the data it collects? Not very. For example, someone hacked OpenAI in 2023, news of which only broke in 2024, while OpenAI remains a target for hackers. Similarly, Sam Altman has said that your conversations with ChatGPT can be used against you in court, which isn't very encouraging from a privacy perspective, even if it's not surprising. In general, I don't recommend sharing anything too sensitive with OpenAI. When it comes to your facial and voice data within Sora, OpenAI tells PCMag that "uploaded Cameos are kept by OpenAI to use for new Sora videos, and are encrypted at rest and in transit." It also says that "uploads are automatically deleted within 30 days after users delete them." You can delete your Sora account, but currently, this is not possible unless you also delete your ChatGPT account. You also can't sign up for an account with the same email address after canceling an existing account associated with it. OpenAI is currently working on a way to let you delete just your Sora account. Should You Use Sora? Just as with Grok's NSFW anime companions, you should check out Sora if you're looking for a little entertainment and want to see what's possible with the technology. Assuming you have an invitation, of course. Beyond that, though, it's hard to see Sora as much more than a curiosity. Sure, you can create some meme videos to send your friends, but it likely only takes so many AI videos before you and your buddies move on to something more exciting. Sora will also inevitably be weaponized: A world where you can create lifelike videos, with audio, of anything in just a minute or two for free is a world where seeing is not believing. So, I suggest never taking any video clips you see online too seriously, unless they come from a source you can absolutely trust.

Sora 2 is taking over the internet: 6 best videos we've seen so far

It's been a long time since OpenAI launched its original Sora model, creating one of the first AI video generators on the market. Since then the competition has come in thick and fast, knocking OpenAI off its pedestal. OpenAI has come back with a vengeance, launching Sora 2. Not only is it better, faster and utilizes a better understanding of physics, but it even lets you create real people and utilize themes from TV shows and films. That has been a controversial choice, allowing for deepfakes and permitting users to generate lots of videos of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. However, in a crowded market it also helps OpenAI to stand out. We've been testing it ourselves and will soon fill you in on our own experiences with the tool, but we've also been seeing what the internet has been up to and it's a trip. To show you what I mean, here are our favorite videos generated using Soma 2 so far. Video produced by D_studioproject Sure, in theory a group of blurry videos of people falling over isn't that impressive. And yet, it kind of is. Here, Sora is able to recreate videos with motion and a lot of movement, while also achieving a blurred video effect that would be seen in low cost cameras. If you look closely, it is still clearly AI. Objects blur in the background or the clock timings don't quite add up. But compared to the AI video generations Sora was making before, this is a massive jump. Video produced by Halim Alrasihi This is one of the more... appropriate videos that has used Sam Altman in Sora 2. It also displays an interesting concept that I've not personally seen done in AI video generations yet. By giving the generator both an outfit and a person, you can see how that outfit might look on them. While a lot of Sora 2 generations seem to be leaning towards comedy or simply being very unhinged, this shows the practical capabilities it could have in the future. Video produced by user Skirano Where the above prompt shows how useful Sora 2 could be, this one shows the complete opposite end of a spectrum. Who knew we needed an alien version of Masterchef on our TVs. This is also a great example of how well the AI sound generation works alongside the video. Is it slightly insane? Of course. But is it brilliant? Obviously. "The foam tastes like battery acid" in that aggressive celebrity chef voice and a gentle tear falling at the same time is an Oscar worthy performance. Video produced by AllarHaltsonen Who says you need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a car advert? This Sora 2 video creates a new version of the Lamborghini Urus, complete with a Nike collaboration. The car looks realistic, it is driving according to the laws of physics (which is fairly new to AI video) and the voiceover fits the style that we all know and love from the many car adverts on TV. Video produced by Skirano It's a dog skydiving... what more do you want? This video especially appealed to me, having spend a long time trying to get the original Sora model to create someone skydiving. It was a complete mess, with limbs flying everywhere, facing morphing in and out and parachutes disappearing mid-fall. Here, everything makes more sense. The dogs ears flap in the wind, the person is falling in the way we see skydivers fall, and you even see the parachute open at the same time as the man announces it. While a more realistic sound for this video would just be an unbearable amount of noise and muffled voices, it is surprisingly accurtate in audio. Video generated by BrentLynch While some are using Sora to create videos of dogs skydiving and blurry fail videos, others are making blockbuster movie clips. This feels like something pulled straight from Mad Max or any other dystopian movie. While there are still hallucinations, most notably in the stickers on the car changing, it otherwise looks incredible. The facial features and the way the hair moves feels incredibly natural. There is a lot going on in the background, which is something that would normally immediately cause issues for a video generator, but here it all works fine. Like the other clips, the audio generated fits the theme and sounds quite impressive.

The first Sora 2 videos are hitting the web, and I'm both impressed and queasy

Wild and often wildly surreal videos made with the Sora 2 AI model appeared nearly immediately after OpenAI unveiled its capabilities, with clips including plenty of cute (and disturbing) ideas that might have been tried with the first Sora model or rivals like Google's Veo, Runway, or what's on Meta's Vibes. But there's no denying that Sora 2 brings a sharper realism to the visuals, and the synchronized sound and dialogue make the results more impressive in some ways than other video generators can match. That they're designed for a TikTok-style feed encourages viewers to buy into their reality. But that also makes the inevitable errors more notable, and more likely to induce uneasiness, even a little nausea - even someone used to AI-generated content might find some of Sora 2's videos to be a little too deep in the uncanny valley for comfort, as some of these examples show... Sora 2 is insanely good at stand up comedy from r/ChatGPT Firstly, this is a joke first told by Joan Rivers, so no points for originality here. The AI crowd does seem to enjoy the AI comedian's delivery. And the comedian seems pretty pleased with how it goes, despite his sweatiness under the synthetic lights. Without a close look at the watermark, I could believe this was only heavily edited with AI, not created with it from scratch. Sora2 is too much fun (spoiler warning for those who haven't read the book) from r/SoraAi Taking some steps into the uncanny (and potentially discomforting), this is a pretty tasteless joke. And it's either supposed to be an impersonator or it's a notable failure by the AI, not actually having holes in his feet as he claims. Still, the water splashing, and how it weighs down his robe is pretty realistic. Sora2. Im amazed from r/singularity I remember commercials like this when I was a kid, right down to the small print spoken super fast at the end. Admittedly, the words in those commercials were spelled correctly and in a human language, the children looked less demonic, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles didn't come off as somewhat threatening, but the degree to which it looks and sounds real is what makes the parts that are off-kilter seem especially unsettling. And that's even before you look at the ethical and legal ramifications of how easy it is to mimic copyrighted and otherwise protected intellectual property. The creator of this video pulled off something amazing in terms of the length, coherence, and narrative continuity of these video clips. But, Sora 2 made some of the faces made by Lucy, Ethel, and Ricky downright terrifying. As natural as Lucy holding a smartphone looks, Ricky's newspaper flaps in some unnatural ways (and that's before considering the topics under discussion. But all of these videos are made relatively quickly. If Sora 2's first videos are this good, the question is what happens with so much believable video that leaves an aftertaste of the uncanny? I'm not sure I'm thrilled with a world jammed with video blurring the line between synthetic and real so effectively - we may all need to rely on our Cowabunga Value!s to figure it out (watch the video above if you haven't already).