OpenAI has pledged to give copyright owners greater control over character use after its video generator Sora 2 was found producing clips featuring copyrighted figures.
The company said it would work directly with rights holders to block their characters from being generated on request.
Sora 2, launched last week on an invite-only basis, allows users to create short videos from text prompts. Within days of release, feeds were filled with copyrighted characters, including SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park, Pokémon, and Rick and Morty.
Before Sora 2’s launch, OpenAI had told studios and talent agencies they would need to opt out if they did not want their material recreated by the app.
OpenAI has said copyright holders can raise concerns through a “copyright disputes form.” However, individual artists or studios cannot impose a blanket opt-out. Varun Shetty, OpenAI’s head of media partnerships, said that they would work with rights holders to block characters from Sora at their request and respond to takedown requests.
On Saturday, CEO Sam Altman said in a blog post that the company was “taking feedback” from rights holders, users, and other groups and would be making changes. He said rights holders would be given more “granular control” over how their characters could be generated. This, he explained, would be similar to how individuals can opt in to share their 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),” Altman wrote.
He acknowledged that some “edge cases of generations” might slip past safeguards but added that rights holders would ultimately “decide how to proceed.”
Altman also said the company was exploring how to generate revenue from video generation. He suggested that rights holders who allow their characters to be used could receive payments. “The exact model will take some trial and error to figure out, but we plan to start very soon,” he said.
He added that OpenAI hoped the engagement would be more valuable than revenue sharing alone. “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,” Altman said.
The CEO compared the current stage of Sora 2 to the early days of ChatGPT, predicting a rapid rate of change. “There will be some good decisions and some missteps,” he said.