According to a report by The Information on the 12th, OpenAI is in talks with a stealth startup that specializes in AI video technology for film production, aiming to transfer its previously discontinued video generation model Sora, allowing it to re-emerge as a professional film tool. Shifting from a consumer-level toy to an industrial-level tool, OpenAI clearly wants to keep the technology shining without burning money.

Cutting heavy assets allows OpenAI to focus on enterprise business

This is not the first time OpenAI has made cuts to Sora. Earlier this year, in order to cut non-core projects with high computing power consumption, the company halted the development of the Sora model and its TikTok-like video app, redirecting resources towards enterprise AI and programming tools; consumer applications and web platforms were subsequently shut down, including a partnership with Disney worth approximately $1 billion (about RMB 6.7 billion). In the current environment where computing power costs are high and capital focuses more on returns, divesting heavy-asset consumer businesses has become OpenAI's clear strategy.

A Hollywood team takes over, but terms remain unresolved

The team taking over has a big name: this startup, established a few months ago, was co-founded by Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, former Sora research lead Bill Pibuls, and former Dropbox CFO Soojay Shah. The company's name has not been disclosed publicly. According to the disclosed cooperation plan, they will take over and reform the Sora platform, developing and selling software or services targeting film producers. Integrating the generation capabilities directly into the film production pipeline, rather than creating an app available to everyone, is the direction this deal aims to test; however, the terms between both parties are far from finalized, and it remains unknown whether this company will be able to obtain the Sora model weights.