30s Summary

Early users of OpenAI’s unreleased tool, Sora, leaked it online alleging exploitation for “free research and development.” Dubbing themselves “PR-Puppets,” they claim to have been used to hone Sora, getting no pay or credit despite contributing to feedback and bug detection. A temporary DIY Sora was accessible on AI developer site HuggingFace before OpenAI took it down. Users were excited about Sora, whose realistic video creation capabilities were trained on multiple video clips. However, OpenAI has not provided official comments on the situation yet.

Full Article

A bunch of disgruntled artists and users who got early access to OpenAI’s yet-to-be-released tool, Sora, have caused a bit of a stir. They’re quite ticked off, saying they were used for a “free research and development” and they’ve leaked access to this new tool as a form of protest.

They made what seems to be a DIY version of Sora available on AI developer site HuggingFace since Nov. 26, meaning anyone could use it to create stuff. But OpenAI reportedly stepped in to shut it down.

This group, who collectively go by “PR-Puppets”, were supposed to be initial testers and creative buddies of Sora. But instead, they felt they were being used to make Sora look good, while doing all the heavy lifting.

In an open letter alongside the Sora leak, they claimed hundreds of artists pitched in for free, helping spot bugs, giving feedback, and experimenting, only to get no pay or credit from OpenAI.

These guys are claiming that OpenAI, worth a whopping $157 billion dollars, has been stiffing artists and contributors, blocking them from getting paid for their input.

The leaked tool was up and running for several hours before it bit the dust. People were quick to post videos made by this version of Sora online.

Huang Lu, a movie director, even said, “It’s impressive how well it handles arms and legs,” alongside a video made by the leaked tool.

The leaked Sora seems to be a quicker “turbo” variant. Savvy users have suggested certain controls and styles for video creation are set to be added later on.

Sora, first shown off by OpenAI on Feb. 16, had lots of users excited about the incredibly real-looking video content it could produce from simple prompts.

The Information reported on Feb. 17 that OpenAI has been training Sora on lots and lots of video clips, banking on the wide range to level up the quality of videos Sora can make.

OpenAI hasn’t commented on this yet.