[UPDATE] OpenAI Is Shutting Down Sora as It Pivots to Enterprise

OpenAI is shutting down its Sora video generation app on April 26, the company confirmed this week alongside the GPT-5.5 launch. The consumer app goes dark first; the Sora API is set to follow in September. It ends what was, briefly, one of the most-discussed AI video generation tools on the market.

The reasons cited internally, according to reporting by The Decoder, include compute costs, declining user engagement, and ongoing copyright pressure over training data. There is also the matter of strategy: OpenAI's stated direction under GPT-5.5 is toward enterprise tools and autonomous coding agents. Video generation does not fit that story.

Sora was never meaningfully monetized at scale. When it launched publicly in early 2024, it generated enormous attention for its visual quality. Two years on, it has a fraction of the user base ChatGPT commands, and the compute required to run it competed with higher-priority workloads.

The week also brought departures. Several senior OpenAI figures left the company, including the leader of the Sora team. OpenAI has seen significant executive turnover over the past 18 months.

For creators and developers who built workflows around Sora, the April 26 closure is abrupt. The September API cutoff gives developers a little more runway, but no successor product has been announced.

Additional coverage from CNBC and TechCrunch.