OpenAI’s advanced text-to-video AI model, Sora, which was initially available to a select group of testers, was unexpectedly leaked online for a few hours by the testers themselves. These individuals, protesting OpenAI’s approach to utilizing their efforts, voiced their frustrations in an open letter titled Dear Corporate AI Overlords. In the letter, they stated they were invited as early testers, red teamers, and creative collaborators but felt exploited, alleging they were being used to promote the AI model to other artists. They also criticized the company for an unfair process of approving and selecting their contributions for screenings.

The letter highlighted the lack of compensation for hundreds of artists who engaged in unpaid labor by providing bug testing, feedback, and experimental creations for a company valued at $150 billion. The artists noted that only a handful of contributors would be selected through a competition to showcase their Sora-generated films, receiving minimal rewards that paled in comparison to the extensive marketing value OpenAI would gain. Frustrated by this inequity, they chose to make Sora publicly available in protest.

This leak triggered a wave of AI-generated video clips, watermarked with OpenAI’s logo, circulating widely online, according to a TechCrunch report. However, access to the leaked version was quickly shut down.

The protesting artists clarified that their issue wasn’t with AI itself but with corporate control over these tools. They expressed support for open-source alternatives such as CogVideoX, Mochi 1, LTX Video, and Pyramid Flow, which allow artists to create videos without depending on large corporations or serving as their promotional tools.

OpenAI confirmed that Sora’s access remains restricted to a limited group of users and artists but did not directly address the leak. The model had already faced criticism earlier this year when former CTO Mira Murati struggled to clarify the origins of the data used to train Sora, dodging questions about potential use of copyrighted YouTube content.

Despite these controversies, OpenAI seems to be aiming for Hollywood as a major target for Sora’s eventual deployment, aligning with industry calls for rigorous safety testing and responsible release of AI-generated video tools.