Social media reacts to OpenAI shutting down Sora video app after Disney pledged $1 billion investment

Kathleen PerriconeWed, March 25, 2026 at 1:39 AM UTC

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in 2025Credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty

OpenAI is closing down one of its polarizing products.

The company announced on Tuesday it is “saying goodbye” to Sora, the generative-AI video creation app that was launched just six months ago.

“To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you,” OpenAI said in a statement on Sora’s X account. “What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.”

The post racked up over 10 million views within hours.

Sora launched in September 2025Credit: Cheng Xin/Getty

The shocking business decision comes just three months after OpenAI signed a $1 billion deal with Disney to license more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar for user-prompted content.

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As part of the blockbuster deal, Disney also pledged a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI — but now, that partnership is over.

“As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere,” Disney said in a statement. “We appreciate the constructive collaboration between our teams and what we learned from it, and we will continue to engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans where they are while responsibly embracing new technologies that respect IP and the rights of creators.”

Sora quickly reached No. 1 in the App Store, but its popularity also came with a wave of backlash from Hollywood studios, agents, and unions over the abundance of intellectual property featured in user-prompted content.

In response, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman promised immediate changes, including giving "rightsholders more granular control over generation of characters." Altman also acknowledged, "We will make some good decisions and some missteps, but we will take feedback and try to fix the missteps very quickly."

Now with OpenAI’s Sora stumble, X users were eager to generate memes at the app’s expense.

on Entertainment Weekly

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”