# Sora
Sora was [[OpenAI]]'s video generation model and standalone product. **The Sora app was shut down on April 26, 2026**, and the API is scheduled for shutdown on **September 24, 2026**. Video generation has been folded into [[ChatGPT]] alongside the [[ChatGPT Images 2.0]] image surface; same consolidation pattern, different modality.
## Why it was shut down
OpenAI never published an official cause. Reported drivers:
- Compute cost; reportedly around $1M/day to run.
- Usage drop-off; peaked near 1M users, declined under 500k before shutdown.
- Strategic shift toward consolidated ChatGPT surface and enterprise products.
## History
- **December 2024**; launched as a standalone product at sora.com.
- **September 30, 2025**; Sora 2 released with iOS and Android apps; added a TikTok-style social feed and let users generate videos of copyrighted characters by default (opt-out for rights holders) which drew immediate backlash.
- **April 26, 2026**; Sora app shut down.
- **September 24, 2026**; API shutdown scheduled.
## What replaces it
Video generation moved inside ChatGPT, the same way [[DALL-E]] became [[ChatGPT Images 2.0]]. There is no Sora 3; the brand is being retired in favor of "ChatGPT can generate video" as a feature of the assistant.
## References
- Official site (archived): https://openai.com/sora/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sora_(text-to-video_model)
## Related
- [[OpenAI]]
- [[ChatGPT]]
- [[ChatGPT Images 2.0]]
- [[DALL-E]]
- [[Veo 3]]
- [[Large Language Models (LLMs)]]