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OpenAI is vowing to offer copyright holders with “more granular control” regarding character generation after its newly launched application, Sora 2, generated a wave of clips depicting protected figures.

The Video Generator’s Release and Initial Concerns

The AI video generator, powered by AI, was rolled out recently on an invite-only arrangement. This tool allows users to create brief clips from a text prompt. Initial assessments of the machine-created content stream showed protected characters from popular series including animated series, South Park, creature-collecting franchises and sci-fi comedies.

Before the release of Sora 2, OpenAI reportedly told artist representatives and studios that if they did not want their protected content replicated by the video generator, they would have to opt out.

“We’ll work with rights holders to block characters from Sora at their request and respond to takedown requests.”

OpenAI stated that rights holders can report unauthorized use using a dedicated reporting tool, but individual artists or companies cannot have a universal exclusion.

Leadership’s Reaction and Future Strategies

On Saturday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced in a blog post that the company had been gathering input from the community, rights holders and other groups, and would make adjustments as a result.

He mentioned that copyright owners would be provided more “granular control” over the creation of characters, similar to how people can opt-in to share their own likeness in the app, but with “additional controls”.

“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).”

Addressing Exceptions and Monetization Plans

The CEO stated that OpenAI would “let rightsholders decide how to proceed” and that there would be some “edge cases of generations” that get through the platform’s guardrails that ought not to.

Altman continued that the organization would also need to generate revenue from video generation, and currently the platform was observing people producing much more material than expected per user. This could mean compensation to copyright owners who allow their figures to be generated.

“The exact model will take some trial and error to figure out, but we plan to start very soon,” he commented. “Our hope is that the new kind of engagement is even more valuable than the revenue share, but of course we want both to be valuable.”

He concluded by noting that there would be a rapid pace of change, similar to the initial stages of ChatGPT, and there would be “some good decisions and some missteps”.