On October 1, 2025, OpenAI threw its hat into the social video ring with the launch of Sora 2, an ambitious upgrade to its AI video generation technology, and a companion invite-only iOS app that aims to shake up how people create, share, and interact with short-form video online. The move comes as tech giants like Meta and Google race to define the next era of social media—one where AI doesn’t just curate content, but generates it from scratch, raising both excitement and serious questions about authenticity, privacy, and digital wellbeing.
OpenAI’s Sora 2 stands out for its focus on “world simulation”—a technical leap that allows the model to generate videos that obey the laws of physics, rather than simply morphing objects to fit a user’s text prompt. According to OpenAI’s blog, earlier models might have had a basketball teleport magically into a hoop if a player missed a shot. Sora 2, however, makes the ball rebound off the backboard, respecting principles like buoyancy and rigidity. The model can accurately simulate complex actions, from gymnasts flipping on paddleboards to basketball rebounds, making the generated clips feel uncannily real. As the Sora team put it, “We believe such systems will be critical for training AI models that deeply understand the physical world.”
But Sora 2 isn’t just about technical prowess. The model supports multiple visual styles—photorealistic, cinematic, and anime—and synchronizes audio with video, generating background soundscapes, speech, and effects. This makes for videos that are not only visually convincing but also immersive. The model’s new “cameo” feature is perhaps its most headline-grabbing innovation: users can record a short video and audio clip of themselves (or a pet, or even an object) and insert that likeness into any generated scene. These cameos are authenticated through a live video process, which, as Axios reports, requires users to repeat certain numbers or phrases and turn their heads in specific ways, helping prevent impersonation and deepfake abuse.
OpenAI is clearly aware of the risks that come with such powerful technology. The Sora app is designed with a raft of safety features to protect users’ identities and foster a healthier digital environment. Users have granular control over their digital likenesses: they can decide who can use their cameo, revoke permissions at any time, review or remove videos featuring their avatar, and report inappropriate content. Public figures are blocked from cameo use unless they opt in. Every AI-generated video is watermarked and tagged with C2PA metadata, making it traceable and distinguishable from real footage. Internal tracing tools and layered content filters help enforce global safety policies, with human moderators supplementing automated systems to catch anything that slips through the cracks.
For teens and younger users, OpenAI has gone further. The Sora app restricts mature content, blocks adults from initiating contact with teens, and introduces parental controls via ChatGPT. Teen users face daily limits on scrolling and video consumption, and their feeds are non-personalized by default. Parents can turn off algorithmic personalization and infinite scroll, and control whether their teen can send or receive direct messages. These steps come in the wake of troubling incidents involving chatbots and minors, and reflect growing pressure on tech firms to prioritize child safety. OpenAI has also implemented audio safeguards to prevent the imitation of living artists, and offers a takedown process for creators who object to their work being used.
The Sora iOS app, accessible via an invite system, is more than just a video generator—it’s a full-fledged social platform. Users can scroll through a personalized feed reminiscent of TikTok or Instagram Reels, remix each other’s videos, and tag friends’ cameos. According to Wired, the app received “overwhelmingly positive feedback from employees” during internal testing, with some managers joking that it was so engaging it could become a workplace distraction. The app’s feed is shaped not just by who you follow or what you interact with, but also by your ChatGPT history and algorithmic predictions about what might inspire you to create. If you’re unsatisfied, you can adjust your feed using natural language prompts, and the app will periodically check in about your wellbeing—an unusual step for a social platform.
OpenAI is keen to distinguish Sora from the ad-driven, dopamine-chasing models of traditional social media. In a blog post, the company stated, “A lot of problems with other apps stem from the monetization model incentivizing decisions that are at odds with user wellbeing.” CEO Sam Altman echoed this, saying, “The majority of users, looking back on the past 6 months, should feel that their life is better for using Sora [than] it would have been if they hadn’t. If that’s not the case, we will make significant changes (and if we can’t fix it, we would discontinue offering the service).” For now, OpenAI denies any plans to introduce advertising, planning instead to offer paid upgrades for users who want to generate extra videos during periods of high demand. Yet, as Axios notes, the company’s recent addition of the “Pulse” feature to ChatGPT—which proactively serves up information based on user interests—has industry watchers speculating about future monetization opportunities.
Meanwhile, OpenAI’s competitors are not standing still. Meta recently launched Vibes, its own AI-video app, and plans to integrate AI-driven ads into its services starting in December 2025. Google is integrating its Veo 3 model into YouTube Shorts, and other players like Runway and Manus are touting similar advances in video realism. However, not all AI video apps have been warmly received: Meta’s Vibes, for instance, was met with “near-unanimous ridicule and even dismay,” according to SFGate. Concerns about deepfakes, disinformation, and copyright violations remain front and center, especially as these apps make it easier than ever to generate convincing but entirely synthetic video content. TikTok, for its part, has updated its policies to forbid harmful misinformation and specifically calls out AI-generated content as a risk.
OpenAI, acutely aware of these pitfalls, is taking a cautious approach. The company is notifying talent agencies and studios about Sora 2’s capabilities, and creators must actively opt out if they don’t want their copyrighted characters recreated. The app’s invite-only status aims to keep bots and scam accounts at bay, at least for now. Currently, Sora is available only to users in the US and Canada, but OpenAI plans to expand access soon. Paid ChatGPT Pro users will get first dibs on the experimental Sora 2 Pro model, which promises even higher video quality.
As the boundaries between AI, creativity, and social interaction continue to blur, Sora 2 represents both a remarkable technical achievement and a new front in the debate over how—and whether—AI should mediate our digital lives. With every advance, the stakes grow higher. Whether Sora will truly offer a healthier, more creative alternative to the attention economy or simply reinvent the same old problems in a shinier package remains to be seen.
