Now You Can Pay to Create More Videos Using Sora’s AI, and That Worries Me.
Sora, a short video generator powered by OpenAI, launched just about a month ago and is already helping spread misinformation on social media. Accounts share generations of Sora videos without any transparency, sometimes even with the Sora watermark removed . While astute observers see through the AI, many scroll past without a second thought, assuming something happened that didn’t. It could be as harmless as Jake Paul applying makeup or as dangerous as a fake interview designed to manipulate viewers toward political bias . It’s getting scary.
Sora’s free version is currently limited to 30 video generations per day. If you pay for the Pro version, you get 100 generations per day. However, if you use Sora for free, after creating your 30th video, you won’t be able to create any more. Personally, I consider this a plus: 30 hyper-realistic AI-powered videos per user per day is a bit much .
Unfortunately, OpenAI isn’t consulting me, and Sora now allows users to pay for additional generations after reaching the free limit. Bill Peebles, Sora’s CEO, announced this change on Thursday in a post on X. Peebles said the company is “overwhelmed” by the demand from “power users,” but at the moment, “the economics are completely unstable.” According to Peebles, the Sora team thought 30 free generations per day would be enough, but that turned out not to be the case. By offering users the option to pay for additional generations, OpenAI plans to begin generating additional revenue from its popular AI-powered short video generator.
Peebles also believes the company will generate future revenue through the “new Sora economy.” This will consist of two parts: copyright holders charging users for the use of their characters or real people, and creators making money from the videos they publish. However, if you don’t plan to pay for Sora generations, there’s some “bad” news: Peebles claims the company will reduce the number of free generations as the platform grows, as it doesn’t have enough GPUs to meet demand.
As The Verge reports , you’ll be able to purchase 10 additional video generations for $4 each, though the actual number of credits required for each video may depend on a variety of factors . Once you reach the limit, the app will allow you to purchase more through the App Store (Sora is currently only available for iOS). These credits expire after 12 months, which I imagine will be plenty for those creating videos in Sora. You can also transfer them to Codex, OpenAI’s programming platform.
Personally, I consider Sora’s exponential growth a negative. I understand the financial implications: OpenAI is now operating as a commercial company and should be making a profit. But OpenAI, like other AI companies , openly ignores the machine for creating fake disinformation products that these products have become. The more the company pushes users to use Sora, the more realistic AI fakes we’ll see in our feeds.