Meta and OpenAI lean into social AI video
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Still from an AI-generated video created by Sora 2. Credit: OpenAI
Get ready for social media's user experiences and business models to reshape the chatbot-dominated AI world.
The big picture: New moves by OpenAI and Meta could add invasive advertising to AI's already-long list of problems, and the tech's power of persuasion and eagerness to please might supercharge the attention-grabbing capability of our social feeds.
Driving the news: OpenAI on Tuesday debuted Sora, an iOS app that combines an improved AI video engine with a variety of social media features, including video sharing, scrolling through a feed and remixing.
- Meta last week introduced Vibes, its own AI-video app and plans to start serving up content and advertising across its services based on the interactions people have with the Meta AI chatbot.
- The company announced those plans Wednesday, saying it will send notifications and emails on Oct. 7, with AI-driven ads and experiences beginning in December.
How it works: The Sora app, which is invite-only for now, includes a "cameo" tool that lets you add yourself and your friends to AI videos.
- As part of the sign-up process users are required to complete a short live video repeating certain numbers or phrases and turning their head in particular ways.
- This both generates a cameo to authenticate a user's likeness and help stop impersonation. Users can approve or remove videos made with their likeness.
What they're saying: OpenAI took pains to contrast what it's doing with Sora from past social media. Sora is optimized "for long-term user satisfaction," Altman said.
- "The majority of users, looking back on the past 6 months, should feel that their life is better for using Sora [than] it would have been if they hadn't," Altman wrote on his blog.
- "If that's not the case, we will make significant changes (and if we can't fix it, we would discontinue offering the service)."
Between the lines: People are already sharing all kinds of information with their chatbot of choice, from inner thoughts to highly personal medical data.
- These details could arm the makers of AI engines with all they need to deliver incredibly targeted advertising as well as content designed to keep people scrolling.
- OpenAI denies any current plans to put advertising in Sora.
- "A lot of problems with other apps stem from the monetization model incentivizing decisions that are at odds with user wellbeing," the company said in a blog post on Tuesday.
- "Transparently, our only current plan is to eventually give users the option to pay some amount to generate an extra video if there's too much demand relative to available compute. As the app evolves, we will openly communicate any changes in our approach here, while continuing to keep user wellbeing as our main goal."
Meta, meanwhile, has made no bones about its desire to merge AI with its proven advertising-based business model.
- The company has long reserved the right to use nearly any data shared with Meta AI however it sees fit, including to serve up ads or hone its AI models.
- The new video-sharing app and move to use Meta AI data for ads merely confirm it is putting those plans in action.
Yes, but: Even as it decries the past, OpenAI has made moves that could lead it down a similar path, especially as it looks for a way to offset the massive cost of delivering generative AI video.
- OpenAI also recently added a "Pulse" feature to ChatGPT that proactively serves up information based on a person's interests. In doing so, it created a canvas that industry watchers noted seems tailor made for advertising.
What we're watching: Many of the videos trending in my Sora feed featured Sam Altman, who enabled anyone to use him as a cameo.
- Popular videos included Altman trying to steal GPUs from Target and another of him outside Nvidia offices screaming for them to invest billions more.
