OpenAI officially discontinued its video generation tool, Sora, on April 26, 2026. While the web and mobile app experiences were shut down on that date, the company announced that the Sora API will remain operational until September 24, 2026.

The decision to shutter the platform came as a surprise to many, occurring only three months after OpenAI had signed a multiyear deal to integrate Disney characters into the service. Reports indicate that the $1 billion Disney partnership has been canceled, and industry observers have pointed to the high operational costs of the model—reportedly reaching $1 million per day—as a primary factor in the platform's closure.

Public opinion regarding Sora was polarized throughout its existence. On platforms like G2, the tool received limited engagement, with only two recorded reviews, while Product Hunt users offered mixed feedback.

Supporters praised the model as a "quiet genius" capable of producing smooth, smart, and helpful content that pushed creative boundaries. Conversely, critics frequently labeled the tool as "sloptimization," arguing that it lacked long-term utility and was an expensive, misguided attempt to force a B2B-focused technology into a consumer-facing social media product.

Discussions on Reddit and YouTube often centered on the high cost of running the service, with some users speculating that OpenAI struggled with the hardware requirements necessary to sustain the platform at scale. Sora’s history was marked by rapid evolution and controversy.

Originally teased in February 2024, the model gained significant attention for its ability to generate realistic, minute-long videos from text prompts. Following this initial hype, OpenAI launched "Sora 2" on September 30, 2025, alongside a dedicated social media app designed to compete with platforms like TikTok and YouTube.

This launch was quickly marred by controversy, as users utilized the tool to create problematic content, including deepfake speeches and offensive depictions of pop culture characters. Despite these challenges, the model was initially viewed as a revolutionary advancement in AI.

In the months leading up to its discontinuation, there was widespread speculation that OpenAI intended to integrate Sora’s capabilities directly into ChatGPT to expand the chatbot's functionality. However, the eventual shutdown has led to broader debates within the tech community regarding the sustainability of AI video generation and the challenges of balancing creative utility with the immense computational costs required to power such models.