OpenAI introduced its new video generation app Sora, and it immediately became a sensation. Despite being available only to invited users in the US and Canada, the app garnered over a million downloads just five days after its launch. According to Sora’s head, Bill Peebles, the app’s popularity is growing even faster than ChatGPT did at its start.
The Sora app allows users not only to browse an AI video feed but also to create their own clips based on the Sora 2 model. Users can add themselves or friends into videos using the “cameos” feature, which immediately drew attention to new memes and funny deepfake videos featuring OpenAI employees.
In its first week after launch, Sora surpassed well-known AI apps like Claude and Copilot and matched Grok in first-day downloads. At the same time, it quickly rose to the top of the US App Store, leaving behind even Google Gemini and ChatGPT.
The rapid rise in Sora’s popularity sparked discussions in the community, as users began creating videos with famous characters in unexpected situations. This prompted OpenAI to give copyright holders more control over the use of their content and allow users to manage how their likeness appears in videos.
