Yesterday, OpenAI revealed Sora, a new tool that can generate video from text prompts by utilising the company’s now infamous artificial intelligence technology.
If you’ve seen the examples that are flying around the internet at the moment, you’ll no doubt have been left open-jawed at what this thing is capable of. I was. And, if you haven’t seen it yet, just take a brief scroll through the feed on your social platform of choice and I’m pretty sure you’ll stumble across a demonstration of Sora rather quickly.
It is, quite simply, unbelievable what OpenAI has created, and, more importantly, what the tool itself is capable of creating.
This begs one huge question. Where does it leave traditional content creators?
Sora can produce AI-generated video that is up to one minute long. It does this via the aforementioned text prompts, but it can also work from images and extend existing footage with new material. OpenAI is currently testing the tool with a select group of users, who are tasked with ensuring it works as intended, but also that it doesn’t violate OpenAI’s terms of service, which prohibit the creation of sexual, violent, and hateful content.
When I spotted this news on X last night, I did what I always do and dived into the endless stream of replies that were attached to posts telling the story of Sora’s announcement.
“Video editors are in trouble.”
“Content creation is never going to be the same again.”
“Wow, I know where my next b-roll is coming from.”
“I can’t believe I’ve just spent a fortune on a new camera 😭 ”
“YouTubers be like 😬 ”
Etc.
I’m a big fan of AI. We use it in my business for idea generation, evergreen blog posts, and for speeding up any production processes that no longer need to be undertaken by humans. For me, this is the brilliance of AI - it’s a digital assistant which can be leveraged to make you more productive, raise the quality of the stuff you produce, and save time (and, consequently, expense).
What I struggle with is the idea of it replacing human creativity. I think some people see the news about tools like Sora and assume they are shortcuts to telling stories that will build audiences. That is, after all, what content creation is all about - storytelling and audience building. I do this by revealing my thoughts on the latest technology and by providing buying guidance based on first-hand experience using that technology.
The tools I use to do this are as old as they are effective. A sketchpad (my laptop). A camera. A mic. My brain ties this stuff together to create content that is coherent, entertaining (for my target audience), and valuable (again, for my target audience). I’m not suggesting that AI isn’t capable of doing this stuff - arguably, it is, as we’re seeing increasingly from the products that are launched by the likes of OpenAI.
What bothers me is the reaction to news like that of Sora’s launch. It feels like the people who are suggesting that certain creative careers are ‘doomed’ and that content creation has immediately and irreversibly changed forever, are the type of people who look for shortcuts to success. The sort who would never think twice about setting up a website purely for mass-producing content and driving ad revenue.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. If the content on such a website is genuinely helpful and serves an audience, I wish the people behind it the best of luck - they’re not doing anything wrong. Equally, those who lean almost exclusively on AI to build digital creator personas that are just as capable of creating valuable content and growing a well-served audience, have my respect. It’s not what I’m about, at all, but I understand why they’re doing it.
Sora will change significant parts of video production as soon as it is made available beyond the initial test group. As time draws on, its capabilities will only thrust it further into the national consciousness and it will indeed render certain human roles highly questionable from a business perspective. It will give those who have no desire to pick up a camera and learn the beautiful intricacies of capturing moving images the ability to achieve the same results with just a text prompt. Again, that ain’t for me, but if you’re up for it - the best of luck to you.
I do not doubt that my business will lean heavily on tools like Sora in the future. We’ll have to. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in business it’s that you can’t run away from innovation - even if it appears to threaten your existence. You have to dive in, get involved, and see how you can leverage new technology to make your business better. If you don’t you will get left behind - that’s where the problems lie.
However, when it comes to storytelling, I think there is always going to be a place for stories told by humans without the assistance of text prompts or reference images. I also don’t want our future generation to be focused on shortcuts to success. Because they really don’t exist.