OpenAI's Sora video generator trained under the guise of free testing - open letter from artists

A group of artists who assisted in testing Sora accused OpenAI of exploiting their labor for free without permission to publish their works.

On Tuesday, November 26, furious artists briefly opened access to a tool that allowed anyone to use the unreleased Sora model from OpenAI. As a reminder, Sora can generate remarkably detailed and realistic videos based on text descriptions.

In an open letter titled "Dear Corporate Owners of Artificial Intelligence," accompanied by images of middle fingers, artists reported that they were offered early access to Sora to test the product and become creative partners. Instead, they believe OpenAI attempted to exploit hundreds of artists for training the model without providing them any rewards.

“Hundreds of artists are performing unpaid work in testing errors, providing feedback, and experimental work in the program for the benefit of a $150 billion company. While hundreds contribute for free, a select few will be chosen through a competition to showcase the films they created in Sora, with minimal compensation that fades against the backdrop of vast publicity and market value of OpenAI,” wrote 16 artists on the AI model hosting platform Hugging Face.

The authors of the letter stated that they are not against using artificial intelligence as a creative tool, but their protest is aimed at a specific early access program that appears to be more of a publicity stunt rather than an opportunity for genuine testing and critique of the program’s shortcomings. Participants noted that all videos they created using the tool were supposed to be approved by OpenAI prior to distribution.

“We disagree with how this application has been deployed and how the tool is being populated ahead of a potential public release. We share this with the world in hopes that OpenAI will become more transparent, more accommodating to artists, and will support art without publicity gimmicks.”

The tool published on Hugging Face is no longer operational, and the letter stated that OpenAI has temporarily suspended the Sora early access program for artists.

“Sora is still in preview mode, and we are working to balance creativity with reliable safety measures for broader use. Hundreds of artists in our alpha version have contributed to the development of Sora, helping to prioritize new features and conditions. Participation is voluntary, without the obligation to provide feedback or use the tool. We are glad to provide these artists with free access and will continue to support them through grants, events, and other programs. We believe AI can be a powerful creative tool, and we strive to make Sora both useful and safe,” noted OpenAI representative Taya Christianson in a statement to Gizmodo.

OpenAI showcased Sora's capabilities in February on a webpage featuring videos it created. Sam Altman described it as “a milestone moment,” but Sora is still not available for public use.

Source: Gizmodo