OpenAI's Sora AI video generator leaked by indignant artists who got first access

[Orange]

OpenAI’s experimental artificial intelligence video generator, Sora, was leaked by a group of early testers. The collective, a group of artists dubbing themselves the ‘PR-Puppets’, took to Hugging Face to release the tool, asserting their discontent over what they see as exploitation of unpaid labor and restrictions on creative freedom.

 

The group argues that OpenAI used them for free labor and public relations while tightly controlling their output. According to the testers, every piece of generated content required company approval, stifling their ability to freely share their creations. Their claim is that the artist involvement was more a PR exercise for OpenAI than a genuine effort to collaborate with creatives on shaping the future of the technology.

 

 

The leaked tool allowed users to create 10-second video clips using the Sora model. The code was also inspected by an engineer, who confirmed that it was legitimate and traced back to OpenAI’s Sora endpoint.

 

 

Within three hours of the leak, OpenAI ended early access to Sora for all artists involved in the testing phase. Although the AI giant quickly responded by shutting down the interface, a number of people were able to generate videos, with some of the clips—with OpenAI’s watermark intact—making their way onto social media.

 

The group maintains that their intention wasn’t to disrupt the development of AI tools but to call out OpenAI’s handling of artist contributions, particularly around compensation and creative control.

 

Quote

 

DEAR CORPORATE AI OVERLORDS…

 

We received access to Sora with the promise to be early testers, red teamers and creative partners. However, we believe instead we are being lured into "art washing" to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists.

 

ARTISTS ARE NOT YOUR UNPAID R&D… we are not your: free bug testers, PR puppets, training data, validation tokens… 

 

Hundreds of artists provide unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback and experimental work for the program for a $150B valued company. While hundreds contribute for free, a select few will be chosen through a competition to have their Sora-created films screened — offering minimal compensation which pales in comparison to the substantial PR and marketing value OpenAI receives… 

 

We are releasing this tool to give everyone an opportunity to experiment with what ~300 artists were offered: a free and unlimited access to this tool.

 

We are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts (if we were, we probably wouldn't have been invited to this program). What we don't agree with is how this artist program has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release. We are sharing this to the world in the hopes that OpenAI becomes more open, more artist friendly and supports the arts beyond PR stunts.

 

We call on artists to make use of tools beyond the proprietary:

Open Source video generation tools allow artists to experiment with the avant-garde free from gate keeping, commercial interests or serving as PR to any corporation. We also invite artists to train their own models with their own datasets.

 

 

In its response, OpenAI emphasized that participation in the Sora research preview had always been voluntary. The company pointed out that hundreds of artists helped shape Sora during the alpha phase, and highlighted its ongoing efforts to support artists through grants, events, and other initiatives. The company reiterated its commitment to making Sora both useful and safe, while acknowledging the importance of feedback from its testers.

 

• https://www.ft.com/content/5281eff4-711b-49ac-8227-634dbeed757b 
• https://www.pcmag.com/news/artists-leak-openais-sora-video-generator-in-pr-puppet-protest 
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/moinroberts-islam/2024/11/26/openais-sora-tool-leaked-by-group-of-aggrieved-early-testers/ 
• https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/26/artists-appears-to-have-leaked-access-to-openais-sora/ 

 

Image: OpenAI