OpenAI is once again walking back its rules for Sora after the estate of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. reached out to the tech giant about videos that users created featuring his likeness.
The Sora 2 video-generation tool has become a point of alarm in Hollywood over the ease and speed with which users can create content, including with recognizable characters and IP.
The company released a joint statement with King Estate, Inc. addressing the concerns, with the tech giant saying that it has “paused generations depicting Dr. King as it strengthens guardrails for historical figures.”
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The company noted that “some users generated disrespectful depictions of Dr. King’s image,” adding that “while there are strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures, OpenAI believes public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used. Authorized representatives or estate owners can request that their likeness not be used in Sora cameos.”
Some Sora users depicted King making crude jokes and other inappropriate content. The generative AI system creates very realistic video and audio, and the videos created look and sound very close to those of King.
King is not the only deceased historical figure whose family has expressed outrage. Zelda Williams, the daughter of comic and actor Robin Williams, implored fans earlier this month to stop sending her “gross” videos of her father.
“Stop believing I wanna see it or that I’ll understand, I don’t and I won’t,” she wrote. “If you’re just trying to troll me, I’ve seen way worse, I’ll restrict and move on. But please, if you’ve got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop. It’s dumb, it’s a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it’s NOT what he’d want.”
The walk back from OpenAI follows a similar move around the use of intellectual property. While Sora uses an opt-in function for people, it initially let users create videos featuring well-known film and TV characters. Sam Altman walked that back after a few days.
“First, we will give rightsholders more granular control over generation of characters, similar to the opt-in model for likeness but with additional controls,” Altman wrote. “We are hearing from a lot of rightsholders who are very excited for this new kind of ‘interactive fan fiction’ and think this new kind of engagement will accrue a lot of value to them, but want the ability to specify how their characters can be used (including not at all).”
Major talent agencies, likewise, are seeking to protect their clients however possible.
