Sora Is Here: AI Video for the Rest of Us

17 December 2024

OpenAI has opened Sora, its text-to-video model, to the public. Type a description; receive a short, often startlingly realistic video clip — currently up to around twenty seconds.

The demos have been circulating since February, but demos are marketing. Now anyone with a subscription can try it, and the honest verdict is: sometimes astonishing, sometimes six-fingered nonsense, always fast.

What this means for marketing video

As a company that has produced corporate video for years, we'll say something that may surprise you: this is good news for most businesses — with caveats.

• B-roll and concept shots get cheaper. Abstract visuals, product mood pieces, and "imagine this" sequences no longer need a shoot.
• Authenticity gets more valuable. When anyone can generate a glossy clip, footage of your actual team, premises and customers becomes the thing that can't be faked. Real is the new premium.
• Rights and disclosure matter. Check the licence terms before commercial use, and think carefully before publishing AI footage that could be mistaken for reality.

The takeaway

Don't fire your videographer; brief them differently. The winning combination in 2025 will be real people captured well, with AI filling the expensive gaps around them.