Inside the discussions between OpenAI and talent agencies about the video app Sora; some agents say studios have been too reluctant to challenge tech giants

OpenAI's CEO brazenly regurgitated major studios' characters to allow video app Sora 2 to spit out clips tailor-made for users.

The Hollywood Reporter 2025-10-18 Winston Cho

Context & Ripple Effects

OpenAI’s outreach to talent agencies extends a longer effort to position Sora within entertainment: it had already held partnership discussions with studios and media executives and later spent months discussing the product’s creative and commercial role with film studios.

The talks now sit alongside growing concern over user-made Sora clips and IP exposure, after viral clips raised warnings about theft, misinformation, and scams. The key tension is whether studios, agencies, and talent can set terms before consumer-facing use becomes normalized.

First-order effects

Talent agencies gain a more direct role in negotiations over how represented performers and character-linked rights may be used around Sora, rather than leaving the issue solely to studios and platforms.
Studios face immediate pressure to articulate a firmer response to reported use of their characters in tailored Sora 2 clips; OpenAI’s agency discussions become part of that bargaining environment.

Second-order effects

Separate negotiations with agencies and studios could produce fragmented permissions and restrictions, increasing the value of clear rights, consent, and attribution terms for AI-video distribution.
The dispute reinforces pressure for platform safeguards around impersonation and unauthorized use, consistent with OpenAI’s subsequent work with SAG-AFTRA and major agencies on Sora 2 deepfakes.

Third-order effects

If agencies and rights holders continue negotiating directly with generative-video platforms, entertainment AI may shift from broad access to a licensing-and-consent layer governing recognizable people and protected characters.
The outcome remains uncertain, but the episode points to rights representation becoming a core commercial constraint on consumer AI video, not merely a post-release moderation issue.

The trend: Generative-video platforms are moving into a rights-governed commercialization phase, where entertainment gatekeepers seek to convert AI use of talent and IP into enforceable terms.

Discussion

@aagave Andrew A. Rosen on x
Hollywood thinks Sam Altman “played” them with Sora's opt-out system, but the real problem is asymmetric information—neither side knows what IP is worth while a global legion of fans with AI tools are building without them. [image]
@simonowens Simon Owens on x
I get the sense that the heads of most AI firms just simply don't believe their tools are infringing on copyright, hence why they're putting in just the bare minimum of effort to work with rights holders. Even the few licensing deals that have been announ https://www.hollywoodrep…
@frydawolff Fryda Wolff on bluesky
Oh so when it's IP holders that are upset, it's a problem. I see.
r/artificial r on reddit
How Sam Altman Played Hollywood
r/technology r on reddit
Hollywood Agents Seethe Over Sora 2, Say OpenAI Purposely Misled Them. The battle over deepfakes and intellectual property deepens …
r/BetterOffline r on reddit
How Sam Altman Played Hollywood
@openainewsroom @openainewsroom on x
Statement from OpenAI and King Estate, Inc.
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
Is Sora a fast-moving company that accidentally breaks things? Or is Sora a company that intentionally breaks things, because it figures it can apologize later? Yes. [image]
@kevinroose Kevin Roose on x
two weeks from “everyone loves the fun new social network” to “users generated disrespectful depictions of Dr. King's image” has to be some kind of speed record
@_alexhirsch Alex Hirsch on x
@OpenAINewsroom So your business model is to dig up celebrities corpses and let users Weekend-At-Bernies their bodies around until their families beg you to stop? What the fuck happened to curing cancer?
@brianroemmele Brian Roemmele on x
This is just one of 100s of 1000s of these situations that will arise.
@chatgpt21 Chris on x
2025 is a crazy year.
@isthisa3dmodel @isthisa3dmodel on x
@OpenAINewsroom if OpenAI believes public figures and families should have control over their likeness then you should ask for consent before you include them in your dataset you bozos
@avaricum777 @avaricum777 on x
Shut it down
@mickeysteamboat @mickeysteamboat on x
@OpenAINewsroom Whatever happened to parody? Comedy & free speech?
@theonedit Vandit Jain on x
AI video generation will be the biggest tool of political propoganda in 2 years. A part of me just shivers from the misuse of technology.
@michae1becker Michael Becker on x
great, now do [every other notable personality with an estate powerful enough to demand the same]
@paulfabretti Paul Fabretti on x
This doesn't surprise me. It certainly felt like in the first three days or so that everything was fair game until the lawyers found out. By the end of the week, content infringement was so common it was its own content meme.
@sentdex Harrison Kinsley on x
This sets a curious precedent that I don't think will survive very long + increases the fervor behind a specific meme template that would have likely otherwise faded out in a few days.
@gpanger Galen Panger on x
I agree this had gotten to a place of disrespect. It's part of why Sora's feed has been so off-putting. (That said, the feed still sucks and needs a lot of work.)
@dvsch @dvsch on x
This company used to have one of the best safety and interpretability teams in the world.
@_colemurray Cole Murray on x
and the censor wars begin
@chanbandara94 Chandima on x
so it would be okay to make ai deepfakes of me? who do i reach out at @OpenAI if i want them taken down? or do certain people have special rights?
@jamiesont Tom Jamieson on x
I'm shocked that anyone would use your shitty copyright theft machine for bad things...TRULY SHOCKED
@simonhedlin Simon Hedlin on x
I think there is a good argument that this policy should apply to non-public figures as well to avoid a scenario of “regressive defamation” where those who did not choose public scrutiny are less able to protect themselves.
@airkatakana @airkatakana on x
why is the estate of martin luther king jr a for-profit company that seems to only exist to sue people [image]
@paultassi Paul Tassi on x
Is there like a “tier” of public figures OpenAI will like actually engage with when they are inevitably generated doing bad shit, or does it have to be just the worst case scenario
@bytebot Colin Charles on x
seems like they not only neutered sora, they did it to chatgpt too. this all seems like a cycle though, it happened with ghibli as well. [image]
@mrmedina Alex Medina on x
what @BerniceKing did sets an important precedent. protecting legacy and likeness should be the baseline, not the exception. regulation is a must.
@eze3d Eric Bourdages on x
Thanks Open AI, I would like to formally request that you remove any and all data with my likeness in it. I am saying this publicly, this makes me a public figure and by your precedent means I have the right to request this. Anyone else?
@manosaie @manosaie on x
This is going to get so much messier and weirder Once people figure out how to create likenesses of other people more easily, it's a game of cat and mouse
@jamesplloyd James Lloyd on x
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all deepfakes are created equal.’”
@backwardsfeet Fr. Paul on x
You shouldn't have to be a famous person to opt out of having your likeness used in image generation models. Non-consensual use of your information in training data is theft.
@tekbog @tekbog on x
what did u guys do
@tenreirodaniel Daniel Tenreiro on x
Lightyears after the oligarchs have left the underclass for dead on earth & inhabited the stars, their progeny will still pay lip service to the bygone shibboleths
@burkov @burkov on x
altman is a chicken. When his company obviously abuses images of some Japanese manga studio, he doesn't see an issue. But when King, Inc. sends a lawyer, he suddenly appoligizes and sets a filter. Hmm, what's different, sam?
@maxb____ Max Bodach on x
King estate is uniquely litigious (eg they still collect royalties on the I Have A Dream speech) but what are we doing here? Public figures and their estates control likeness until the heat death of the universe?
@larakate Lara Cohen on x
Are they going to write an apology for every public figure or normal person who has their likeness used without their consent with SORA? I hope they like writing apologies. Also, maybe don't launch it if you haven't figured out what “ultimately controlling your likeness” means.
@ednewtonrex Ed Newton-Rex on x
This is a non-apology. People should not have to opt out of being depicted in OpenAI's deepfake app. 'Exploit people's likenesses and copyrights until they complain' is a terrible position for a deepfake app to take.
@brianbrackeen Brian Brackeen on x
This is responsible AI.
@stokel Chris Stokel-Walker on x
It should not be an opt-out regime...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on bluesky
“It's OK to make disrespectful videos of historical figures unless enough living family members complain about them” is a weird and untenable policy [embedded post]
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on bluesky
OpenAI's Sora will no longer allow deepfakes of Martin Luther King Jr after his family raised concerns. — That entire genre of manipulating his “I have a dream” speech for jokes or shock value was gross. I'm glad it's gone.
@socialmedialab.ca @socialmedialab.ca on bluesky
3 years in, we are still discussing and discovering guardrails. It's as if we learned nothing from the rollout of social media. — “OpenAI pauses Sora video generations of Martin Luther King Jr.” #movefastbreakthings techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/o...
@daniloc.xyz @daniloc.xyz on bluesky
“Satire is dead,” people love to grumble on social media. but it's wild how this company is incapable of being normal. A reckless industrial woodchipper for satire [embedded post]
@jeremylittau.com Jeremy Littau on bluesky
Wow if only everybody hadn't seen this coming.
@hypervisible.blacksky.app @hypervisible.blacksky.app on bluesky
If only OpenAI could have foreseen the entirely predictable hazards of irresponsibly releasing this tech. I guess the estate of every dead person will have to individually request a special dispensation to no longer have disgusting videos made by OpenAI's tools.
r/SoraAi r on reddit
OpenAI halts MLK deepfakes on Sora
r/Fauxmoi r on reddit
OpenAI suspends MLK deepfakes on Sora after ‘disrespectful’ videos
r/technology r on reddit
OpenAI pauses Sora video generations of Martin Luther King Jr.

Chronicles