2025-10-02T19:40:06Z
Share
Facebook
Email
X
LinkedIn
Reddit
Bluesky
WhatsApp
Copy link
lighning bolt icon
An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.
Impact Link
Save
Saved
Read in app
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider
subscribers. Become an Insider
and start reading now.
Have an account? Log in.
OpenAI launched Sora, a new AI-powered app that generates video and audio, this week.
Sora lets you scan your face and voice, allowing you to insert yourself into AI-generated videos.
Users are creating videos starring CEO Sam Altman.
The star of OpenAI’s new Sora app is none other than CEO Sam Altman.
OpenAI launched Sora, its new AI-powered video and audio generation app, on Tuesday to much fanfare. The app is invite-only for now, leading some people to sell invite codes for just under $45 on eBay. Even Business Insider reporters lauded the app as entertaining and fun.
It’s also worrisome to some, however, for its ability to include AI versions of real people. Users can scan their faces and their voices to add themselves to videos. You can also add friends who have made their own AI avatars.
Altman and some other OpenAI staff were the first to create and share their AI likeness. Since Sora’s release, users have wasted no time making Altman a main character in their short-form videos.
“it is way less strange to watch a feed full of memes of yourself than i thought it would be,” Altman said on X on Wednesday. “not sure what to make of this.”
Here are a few ways Altman has taken center stage on the Sora app.
Stealing GPUs at Target.
OpenAI research scientist Gabriel Petersson helped kick off the fun on Tuesday by sharing an AI video he created with Sora on X. The AI video, mimicking CCTV footage, shows Altman stealing GPUs at a Target store before security caught him.
“Please, I really need this for Sora inference,” the AI-powered Altman said in the video.
Visiting Studio Ghibli’s headquarters in Japan.
A self-described AI filmmaker shared a video made with Sora 2 on Wednesday, poking fun at OpenAI’s Studio Ghibli trend.
Earlier this year, OpenAI unveiled an image generator through ChatGPT, which many people used to generate images based on the animation style popularized by Studio Ghibli. At the time, the trend faced pushback from some who were concerned that it violated copyright laws and exploited artists’ work.
In the AI video, an AI Altman steals art from Studio Ghibli cofounder Hayao Miyazaki at the company’s headquarters in Japan. The video shows Miyazaki running after Altman in an attempt to retrieve his artwork.
“Sora 2 is wilddddddd,” the user wrote.
Rapping about OpenAI’s success.
One X user used Sora to make an AI video of Altman wearing an outfit inspired by 2000s hip-hop and rapping about his company’s success.
“Sora got the screams and the crowd enjoys/What happened to that boy? Brrrr,” the AI Altman said in the video on Wednesday. “Every rival burning cash/Chasing a decoy/What happened to that boy? Brrrr.”
Hanging out with dinosaurs.
Petersson shared a Sora 2 promotional video on Tuesday that featured AI versions of him and Altman in absurd situations.
In one scene, Petersson drives a yellow Lamborghini before appearing on a dragon’s back in the next. At one point, Petersson and Altman make it to “imagination land,” complete with cherry blossom trees and dinosaurs.
“feature you and your friends with raw real world physics, putting an end to the uncanny ai vibes,” Petersson wrote in the post.
Entering the “South Park” universe.
On Wednesday, an X user used Sora 2 to create an AI video featuring AI Altman alongside Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick of “South Park.” Cartman and Altman team up in the video to pull a prank on Kenny.
“Sam Altman is the ‘Ghibli’ moment for Sora 2,” the user wrote.
Inspiring people to dance at the train station.
Petersson shared another Sora 2-generated video featuring Altman to his X account on Tuesday. The video showed AI Altman wearing black wireless headphones and walking onto a train station platform. He then begins snapping his fingers, inspiring the crowd to dance and snap their fingers as well.
