The long-awaited Sora model, which generates videos based on text, will be available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers. However, Europeans will not have this feature for now.
Sora was unveiled earlier this year, and since then, there has been much talk about this type of model in the industry. Theoretically, they make it possible to generate highly accurate videos barely distinguishable from the real world. For example, such models could use an uploaded photo of a real person as the basis for a video, which raises ethical questions. There are concerns that this technology could be misused to harm individuals.
Maker OpenAI is, therefore, choosing to initially make the feature involving real people available to a select group of subscribers. A wider rollout will only follow once the feature is fine-tuned to meet security standards.
Toward broad availability
Despite these limitations, the new model is capable of generating good videos. The launched version, Sora Turbo, can generate clips of five to twenty seconds in various aspect ratios and resolutions. Credits are required to generate these clips. For example, a video in 480p costs 20 to 150 credits, while a higher-quality one in 1080p costs between 100 and 2,000 credits. ChatGPT Plus users get 1,000 credits monthly, while Pro users can access 10,000 credits.
OpenAI stresses that this is still an early version of the model, which may have bugs. “It’s not perfect, but it’s already at the point where we think it’s going to be really useful for augmenting human creativity,” states research lead Will Peebles. “We can’t wait to see what the world is going to make with Sora.”
While users in some countries can now start using Sora, this is not the case in the EU. In previous AI innovations, Europe has also been later to adopt, often because of additional controls needed within our region to meet local requirements. CEO Sam Altman offered some clarification during the presentation: “We’re going to try our hardest to be able to launch, but we don’t have any timing to share yet.”