OpenAI Commits to Enhanced Copyright Control After Sora 2 Generates Footage of Well-Known Characters
The company is promising to offer rights owners with increased oversight regarding character generation after its recently released application, Sora 2, generated a wave of videos featuring copyrighted figures.
The Video Generator’s Release and Initial Concerns
The AI video generator, driven by artificial intelligence, was introduced recently on an exclusive arrangement. The application enables users to create brief clips from a text prompt. Initial assessments of the machine-created video feed showed protected figures from well-loved shows including SpongeBob SquarePants, adult cartoons, Pokémon and Rick and Morty.
Before launch of Sora 2, OpenAI reportedly told artist representatives and production houses that if they wished to avoid their protected content replicated by the AI tool, they would have to opt out.
“Our team will collaborate with copyright owners to prevent character generation upon request and address removal inquiries.”
The company explained that content owners can flag copyright infringement using a dedicated reporting tool, but creators or companies cannot have a blanket opt-out.
CEO’s Response and Upcoming Plans
Recently, the company’s leader Sam Altman announced in a blog post that the company had been “taking feedback” from the community, rights holders and stakeholders, and would make adjustments as a result.
Altman noted that copyright owners would be provided more detailed management over character generation, similar to how people can opt-in to use their own image in the app, but with extra safeguards.
“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).”
Handling Edge Cases and Monetization Plans
The CEO stated that OpenAI would “let rightsholders decide how to proceed” and that there would be some unusual instances of content that bypass the platform’s guardrails that ought not to.
Altman continued that the organization would also need to generate revenue from content creation, and already the platform was observing people producing far greater material than anticipated per user. This could mean compensation to rights holders who allow their figures to be generated.
“We will need to experiment with different approaches to finalize the revenue structure, but implementation is imminent,” he commented. “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.”
He concluded by noting that there would be a rapid pace of evolution, similar to the initial stages of ChatGPT, and there would be both successful choices and occasional errors.
