Back in February 2024, OpenAI first announced Sora, an AI model that can create realistic and imaginative videos from text prompts. After several months in private preview, OpenAI rolled it out publicly in December 2024 for ChatGPT paid subscribers.
In October 2025, OpenAI introduced a major update with the Sora 2 model and a dedicated Sora iOS app. Along with significant model improvements, the new app allowed users to create and remix each other’s videos, including cameo-style inserts.
While the Sora app launched with considerable fanfare, it began to lose momentum in the following months. According to analytics firm Appfigures, the app hit 100,000 downloads on its first day despite being invite-only. It later crossed one million downloads, reportedly faster than ChatGPT. However, as of January 2026, the Sora app has dropped out of the top 100 apps on the US iOS App Store.
Today, OpenAI surprised users by announcing that the Sora app will be shut down, with timelines to be shared in the coming days. Notably, OpenAI is not only discontinuing the Sora app but also shutting down the Sora APIs, which allowed developers to build apps capable of generating videos from text and image inputs.
We’re saying goodbye to the Sora app. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.
— Sora (@soraofficialapp) March 24, 2026
We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on…
According to reports, OpenAI’s decision to shut down Sora is largely attributed to the high compute costs required to serve both consumers and developers. At the same time, the revenue opportunity does not appear strong enough to justify these intensive infrastructure demands.
Over the past year, coding has emerged as a key focus area for AI labs due to its strong monetization potential. Millions of software developers across startups and enterprises are willing to spend on AI tools that improve productivity. In fact, Anthropic, one of OpenAI’s leading competitors, has reportedly reached an annualized revenue run rate of nearly $14 billion by focusing heavily on coding-centric AI tools. As a result, OpenAI is likely shifting in a similar direction, especially as it faces increasing pressure to generate sustainable revenue to support its growing AI infrastructure investments.
With this announcement, OpenAI"s billion-dollar deal with Disney for AI video generation technology is also coming to an end. Disney provided the following statement to Variety on this latest move by OpenAI:
As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere. 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.
As OpenAI pivots toward the world of software development, the dream of democratized AI video generation may have to wait for a more cost-effective era.