OpenAI announced Tuesday that it will shut down Sora, its artificial intelligence video generation application and accompanying developer tools. The company made the announcement on social media platform X, stating "We're saying goodbye to Sora" and promising to provide more details on timelines and how users can preserve their work.

Sora was first previewed by OpenAI in February 2024 and later released as an updated "Sora Turbo" model approximately 10 months later. The application allowed users to create AI-generated videos and functioned as a social network where users could insert AI-generated versions of themselves and friends into videos. The iOS version of the app briefly reached number one in downloads on Apple's App Store.

The shutdown affects both the standalone consumer app and the application programming interface (API) that developers use to integrate Sora's video generation capabilities into their own products. OpenAI had been regularly updating Sora through this week, making the announcement particularly sudden for users and developers.

The closure comes amid broader strategic changes at OpenAI, including reported efforts to focus on building a "super app" that would consolidate various AI capabilities into a single interface. Industry reports suggest the company is refocusing on business and productivity use cases to compete with rivals like Anthropic's Claude platform, which has gained traction in enterprise markets.

The shutdown also raises questions about OpenAI's December 2025 licensing deal with Disney, which was reportedly worth $1 billion and aimed to bring Disney characters to Sora-generated content for the Disney+ streaming service. Under that agreement, fans were expected to create videos featuring Disney characters starting in early 2026, though the status of this partnership following Sora's closure remains unclear.

OpenAI has not provided a specific shutdown date for Sora's services, saying only that it will share timeline details soon. The move comes as the company undergoes leadership restructuring and shifts focus toward different AI applications.