Sora testers leak text-to-video platform in protest, accuse OpenAI of ‘art washing’
The letter begins “dear corporate overlords”
A group of filmmakers and creators that had been given exclusive early access to OpenAI’s Sora have staged a protest by leaking a version of the text-to-video platform, accusing the AI giant of luring them into “art washing.”
In a letter that leads with “dear corporate overlords,” the unidentified group said it felt it was being used to create a false impression that Sora is a “useful tool for artists” and that testers were essentially being asked to provide free PR for Sora, which rocked the entertainment world in February when its video capabilities were first showcased.
A group of around 300 testers, “red teamers” and other creative partners had been given access to Sora earlier this year to experiment, test for bugs and glitches and provide feedback. Exactly how many of them were behind or supportive of the leak is unknown.
Among the claims made in the open letter is that every piece of information shared publicly by Sora testers needed to go through an approval process by OpenAI.
“This early access program appears to be less about creative expression and critique, and more about PR and advertisement,” said the letter, which also included headings that read “denormalise billion dollar brands exploiting artists for unpaid R&D and PR” and “corporate artwashing detected.”
The letter was posted on Hugging Face, a website where users share, showcase and test machine learning models.
The group insisted it was “not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts” but rather that it disagreed with “how this artist program has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release.”
The goal of leaking the video, said the group, was so that OpenAI becomes “more open, more artist friendly and supports the arts beyond PR stunts.”
Within three hours of Sora being leaked, OpenAI had seemingly suspended access to the programme.
“Sora is still in research preview, and we’re working to balance creativity with robust safety measures for broader use,” said OpenAI representative Niko Felix in a statement.
“Hundreds of artists in our alpha have shaped Sora’s development, helping prioritise 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.”
After releasing its Sora demonstration videos in February, OpenAI said it would officially launch the programme before the end of the year, though it has not recently committed to a timeline for a broader release.
