Major Hollywood agencies slam OpenAI’s Sora, calling it ‘exploitation’

The Creative Artists Agency on Thursday criticized the new video creation app OpenAI Sora to pose “significant risks” to its customers and intellectual property.

The talent agency, which represents artists including Doja Cat, Scarlett Johanson and Tom Hanks, asked whether OpenAI believes that “human beings, writers, artists, actors, directors, producers, musicians and athletes deserve compensation and praise for the work they create.”

“Or does Open AI think they can just steal it, ignoring universal copyright principles and blatantly denying the rights of creators, as well as the many people and companies who fund the production, creation and publication of these humans’ works? In our opinion, the answer to this question is clear,” the CAA wrote.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The CAA said it is “open to hearing solutions” from OpenAI and is working with IP leaders, unions, regulators and global policymakers on the issue.

“Control, permission to employ, and compensation is a fundamental right of these workers,” the CAA wrote. “Anything less than protecting creators and their rights is unacceptable.”

Sorawhich was launched last week and quickly reached one million Downloadsallows users to create AI-generated clips that often feature popular personalities and brands.

OpenAI launched with an “opt-out” system that allowed the use of… Copyright Materials unless studios or agencies request that their intellectual property not be used.

CEO Sam Altman later said in a blog post that they would offer that Rights holders “More fine-grained control over character creation.”

Talent agency WME sent a memo to agents on Wednesday stating that it had “notified OpenAI that all WME clients will be opted out of the latest Sora AI update, regardless of whether intellectual property rights holders have chosen which IP our clients associate with,” the Los Angeles Times reported. I mentioned.

United Talent Agency also criticized Sora’s use of copyrighted property, calling it “exploitation rather than innovation” in a statement issued on Thursday.

“There is no substitute for human talent in our business, and we will continue to fight tirelessly for our customers to ensure they are protected,” UTA wrote. “When it comes to OpenAI’s Sora or any other platform that seeks to leverage our customers’ intellectual property and example, we stand with the artists.”

In a letter written to OpenAI last week, Disney said it had not authorized OpenAI and Sora to copy, distribute, publicly display or perform any image or video featuring its copyrighted works and characters, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Disney also wrote that it has no obligation to “opt out” of appearing in Sora or any OpenAI system to preserve its rights under copyright law, the person said.

Motion Picture Association Issue a statement On Tuesday, OpenAI urged “immediate and decisive action” against videos that use Sora to produce content that infringes on copyrighted material.

Entertainment companies have expressed many copyright concerns with the rise of generative AI.

Universal and Disney filed a lawsuit against the creator Mid-flight in June, alleging that the company used and distributed AI-generated characters from its films despite requests to stop. Disney also sent a cease and desist letter to the AI ​​startup Personality.AI In September, he warned the company to stop using its copyrighted characters without permission.