OpenAI’s video generator, Sora, is sparking conversations in the tech community, with YouTuber Marques Brownlee taking center stage. Released during OpenAI’s “12 Days of OpenAI” event, Sora has been praised for its impressive capabilities. But it also brings up important issues regarding the morality and transparency of AI training data.
A new era for AI video generation
One of the best tech reviewers on YouTube, Brownlee, had early access to Sora and talked about his experiences. He commended the tool’s ability to create stunning landscapes, abstract videos and even accurate animated text visuals — features that distinguish it from earlier AI models.
However, Brownlee also identified problems, such as object permanence and physics errors. For instance, humans may bend or walk unrealistically, and objects may vanish or move strangely in a video. “It’s an ongoing work,” he said, noting that photorealistic video remains a significant challenge for AI models.
The mystery of training data
Brownlee’s review touched on a more controversial topic: Was Sora trained using YouTube videos? During testing, he asked the AI to create a video of a tech reviewer. The result featured a desk with a plant eerily similar to one in Brownlee’s own videos. “Are my videos in that source material?” he asks in the video. Sora was trained on “publicly available videos,” according to OpenAI, which has refrained from providing details about the YouTube content.
This lack of clarity has drawn skepticism. “If it wasn’t trained on YouTube, why would it include such familiar details?” Brownlee questions. YouTube, for its part, promised to investigate whether its content was used but hasn’t shared its findings yet.
Challenges of the AI tool
While Brownlee recognizes Sora’s potential as a creative tool, he expressed concerns about its societal impact. “This tool moves us further into the era of not being able to believe anything you see online,” he says, highlighting the challenges of distinguishing real content from AI-generated material.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman echoed the promise of AI tools, stating that they enable a “new co-creative dynamic” for creators.