OpenAI’s AI video generation app Sora, launched at the end of September 2025, has achieved remarkable download records. According to data shared by Sora project lead Bill Peebles on social platform X on October 8-9, the app surpassed one million downloads in less than five days after launch, a speed that exceeded even ChatGPT’s initial launch record.
Faster Viral Growth Than ChatGPT
Sora officially launched on September 30, 2025, available only in the United States and Canada, with a restrictive invite-only release strategy. Despite these limitations, the app reached the one million download milestone in just a few days, demonstrating strong market demand for AI video generation technology.
Data shows Sora set its single-day download record on October 1, with iOS platform downloads reaching 107,800 on that day. This explosive growth rate shocked the industry, as ChatGPT, despite creating a viral phenomenon at its launch, took longer to reach the same download numbers.
By October 3, Sora had already topped the US App Store’s free applications chart, surpassing all other apps including social media and games to become the week’s most popular application.
Sora’s Core Features and Technical Advantages
Sora is a text-to-video AI application that allows users to generate realistic video content by entering text prompts. Unlike other AI video generation tools, Sora’s standout feature is the “Cameo” function.
The Cameo function allows users to upload a short video, and the system learns the appearance and movement characteristics of people in the video. Users can then use text prompts to make these characters appear in various AI-generated scenes. This means users can have themselves or friends “star” in videos across various virtual scenarios.
This feature offers high practical utility. Users can create personalized video content without actual filming or complex post-production. From birthday greeting videos to creative short films, from social media content to commercial promotions, the Cameo function significantly lowers the barrier to video creation.
Sora employs OpenAI’s latest video generation model, capable of generating high-quality videos up to 20 seconds long. Videos feature smooth motion, reasonable physics, and relatively natural lighting effects. While some common AI-generated content flaws remain, overall quality has reached a practical level.
Challenges Behind the Technical Breakthrough
Sora’s success builds on OpenAI’s major breakthroughs in video generation technology. Video generation is far more complex than image generation, as it requires handling temporal consistency, ensuring smooth transitions between frames, and maintaining realistic object motion.
OpenAI employed a combination of Diffusion Models and Transformer architecture, enabling Sora to understand text descriptions and convert them into coherent video content. The model was trained on vast amounts of video data, learning how objects move in the real world, lighting changes, and camera language.
However, generating high-quality videos requires massive computational resources. Estimates suggest generating a 20-second Sora video may take several minutes of processing time and consume computational power equivalent to hundreds of text generation requests. This is why Sora currently uses an invite-only system and may introduce paid subscription models in the future.
Another challenge OpenAI faces is server capacity. A million users means potentially millions of video generation requests daily. To meet this demand, OpenAI needs to massively expand its GPU clusters, requiring huge investment and time.
Strong Backlash from Hollywood
Sora’s rapid adoption has also sparked serious copyright and ethical controversies. Organizations like the Motion Picture Association (MPA) have strongly criticized Sora, arguing the application infringes on copyright and could harm the creative industry.
The main point of contention concerns Sora’s training data sources. AI models typically require large amounts of video data for training, and this data likely includes copyrighted films, TV shows, and other professionally produced video content. Creators and production companies argue that OpenAI’s use of this content to train models without authorization constitutes intellectual property infringement.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) has also expressed concerns. The union worries AI-generated videos could replace real actors’ job opportunities, particularly in advertising, supporting roles, and background actor roles. The union calls for stricter regulations to protect actors’ rights and likeness rights.
Additionally, the Cameo function has raised concerns about deepfake technology abuse. While OpenAI claims to have safety measures preventing inappropriate content generation, tech experts warn such technology could still be used to create misleading or malicious video content.
Hollywood directors and writers have also expressed concerns about creative value being devalued. Filmmaking is an art involving collaboration across multiple professional fields including scriptwriting, performance, cinematography, and editing. If AI can quickly generate video content, market demand for professional creation may decline, affecting the entire industry ecosystem.
OpenAI’s Response Strategy
Facing controversy, OpenAI emphasizes its commitment to responsible AI development. The company states Sora has built-in multiple safety mechanisms, including content moderation systems, watermarking technology, and filtering for sensitive content.
OpenAI claims Sora will not generate content containing violence, pornography, hate speech, or unauthorized likenesses of public figures. The system automatically detects and rejects such requests. Additionally, all Sora-generated videos are embedded with invisible digital watermarks for tracking and identifying AI-generated content.
On copyright issues, OpenAI states it is engaging in dialogue with content creators and industry organizations, exploring reasonable licensing and compensation mechanisms. The company also hints at potentially launching a creator program allowing artists and production companies to license their works for training and receive compensation.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated in a recent interview: “AI tools should empower creators, not replace them. We believe Sora can become part of creative workflows, helping artists realize ideas faster, rather than eliminating the need for human creativity.”
Business Model and Market Positioning
Currently Sora uses an invite-only system, but OpenAI will likely launch paid subscription services in the near future. Industry speculation suggests Sora may integrate into ChatGPT Plus subscriptions or offer independent subscription options.
Considering the high computational cost of video generation, Sora’s pricing may be higher than text and image generation services. Industry estimates suggest subscription fees may range from $30 to $50 per month, with possible limits on video length and quantity.
OpenAI may also launch an enterprise version of Sora, offering advertising agencies, content creators, and business customers higher quotas and additional features such as batch generation, API integration, and custom model training.
From a market positioning perspective, Sora is pioneering an entirely new product category. While other AI video generation tools exist in the market, such as Runway, Pika, and Stability AI’s Stable Video Diffusion, Sora, with OpenAI’s brand effect and technical advantages, will likely dominate the market in the short term.
Impact on the Content Creation Industry
Sora’s proliferation will have far-reaching effects on the content creation industry. First, it significantly lowers the barrier to video production. Video content that previously required professional equipment, teams, and budgets can now be easily created by individual creators.
This is a major benefit for small businesses and individual creators. Social media marketers can quickly generate advertising materials, YouTubers can produce richer video content, and educators can create instructional videos without expensive production costs.
However, this also presents challenges for the professional video production industry. The low-end video production market may be eroded by AI tools, and some basic video production jobs may disappear. Cinematographers, editors, and post-production professionals need to upgrade their skills and focus on higher-level creative work.
On the other hand, Sora may also become an auxiliary tool for professional creators. Directors can use it to quickly create storyboard previews, effects teams can use it to generate concept videos, and advertising agencies can use it for creative testing. From this perspective, AI tools may enhance rather than replace human creativity.
Technology Competition and Industry Landscape
Sora’s success will intensify competition in the AI video generation field. Google’s Lumiere, Meta’s Make-A-Video, and various startups are all developing similar technologies. Market competition will drive rapid technological advancement and may lead to price reductions.
OpenAI’s main advantage lies in its vast user base and brand effect. ChatGPT has already established a strong user ecosystem, and Sora can easily reach these users. Additionally, OpenAI’s leading position in AI research and strategic partnership with Microsoft provide competitive advantages.
However, challengers are also rising rapidly. Chinese AI companies like Kuaishou and ByteDance are also developing video generation technology, and in some aspects have approached OpenAI’s level. These companies have home-field advantages in the Chinese market and may expand internationally.
The open-source community is also a force to be reckoned with. If open-source models approach Sora’s quality, many users and enterprises may choose self-deployed solutions for better privacy protection and cost control.
Regulatory and Policy Challenges
Sora’s rapid proliferation also highlights the urgency of AI regulation. Currently, most countries’ legal frameworks for AI-generated content remain incomplete, with regulations on copyright, liability attribution, and usage restrictions still being formulated.
The European Union’s AI Act has come into effect, setting strict regulations for high-risk AI applications, but specific implementation details remain under discussion. The US Congress is also considering relevant legislation, but progress is slow. Asian countries like Japan, South Korea, and Singapore are also formulating their respective AI policies.
For AI video generation, main regulatory issues include: copyright issues of training data, ownership attribution of generated content, liability definition for deepfake content, and protection of children and vulnerable groups. These issues require finding balance between technological development and social interests.
OpenAI and other AI companies are also promoting industry self-regulation. Multiple companies have signed agreements committing to adding identifiable marks to AI-generated content to prevent misleading use. However, self-regulatory measures have limited effectiveness, and ultimately comprehensive legal frameworks are needed.
Future Directions of Technology Development
Sora is still in its early stages, with significant room for improvement in the future. OpenAI plans to add more features in upcoming versions, including longer video durations, higher resolutions, and more precise control options.
Multimodal integration is an important direction. Future Sora may integrate voice generation, music creation, and effects synthesis, providing end-to-end video production solutions. Users need only provide scripts or creative concepts, and AI can automatically generate complete video works.
Personalization is also a development focus. By learning users’ style preferences, Sora can generate content more aligned with personal tastes. Enterprise customers can train custom models, ensuring generated content aligns with brand image and style guidelines.
Interactive video generation is another frontier area. Users can adjust video content in real-time, such as changing character clothing, adjusting scene lighting, or modifying action details, without regenerating the entire video. This requires more powerful models and more efficient computing architectures.
Conclusion: The Transformation Has Begun
Sora’s rapid success marks a turning point in AI video generation technology moving from laboratories to mainstream markets. The five-day million-download record is not just a numerical achievement but represents strong public interest and acceptance of this technology.
However, rapid technological development also brings complex social, legal, and ethical challenges. How to balance innovation with protecting creator rights, how to prevent technology abuse, and how to ensure AI development benefits rather than harms society—these are all questions we must face.
OpenAI’s leadership position in the AI field carries greater responsibility. Sora’s development direction, business strategy, and safety measures will largely shape the industry’s future. Markets, creators, and regulatory bodies will closely watch Sora’s next steps.
For content creators, Sora represents both challenge and opportunity. Those who can effectively use AI tools and combine technology with creativity will gain advantages in the new media ecosystem. Those who resist change may find themselves left behind by the market.
The era of AI video generation has arrived, and Sora is just the beginning. In the coming years, we will witness how this technology transforms entertainment, advertising, education, and communication. The pace of change may be faster than we imagine, and all of us will become participants in this technological revolution.
