Kiss reality goodbye: AI-generated social media has arrived

"A fascist SpongeBob SquarePants, a dog driving a car and Jesus playing Minecraft these are just a few of the things you can see as you flip through OpenAI's new app populated exclusively with short-form videos generated using artificial intelligence. And if you can't find what you're looking for, don't worry: you can make it with ease using a small text-based prompt window in the app. The result is a highly addictive stream of sometimes funny and sometimes strange 10-second videos."

"NPR took an early look and found that OpenAI's app could easily generate very realistic videos, including of real individuals (with their permission). The early results are both wowing and worrying researchers. "You can create insanely real looking videos, with your friends saying things that they would never say," said Solomon Messing, an associate professor at New York University in the Center for Social Media and Politics. "I think we might be in the era where seeing is not believing.""

"The Sora 2 app looks and feels remarkably like other vertical video social media apps like TikTok. It comes with a few different settings it's possible to choose videos by mood, for example. Users are allowed control over how their face is in used "end-to-end" in AI-generated videos, according to OpenAI. That means users can allow their faces to be used by everyone, a small circle of friends, or only themselves. What's more, they are allowed to remove videos showing their likeness at any time."

OpenAI released the Sora app, a short-form vertical video platform populated exclusively with AI-generated 10-second videos. Users can generate videos via a small text prompt and can browse a stream resembling other apps like TikTok. The app can produce fabricated scenarios and realistic depictions of real individuals with permission. Users can control face usage end-to-end, permitting public use, a small circle of friends, or only themselves, and can remove likeness videos at any time. Downloaded videos include moving Sora watermarks and embedded metadata identifying AI origin. Researchers warn the technology can produce convincing deepfakes that undermine trust in visual evidence.

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