OpenAI suspended its Sora 2 AI tool for creating videos of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. after his estate complained about disrespectful depictions.
The heirs of the slain civil rights leader and OpenAI announced the decision in a joint statement Thursday night, saying the company would pause generations depicting King while “strengthening barriers for historical figures.”
The move comes as families of deceased celebrities and leaders have expressed outrage over OpenAI’s Sora 2 video tool, which allows users to create realistic-looking clips of historical figures without the family’s consent.
Some users had generated videos showing King making monkey noises during his “I Have a Dream” speech and other degrading content, according to The Washington Post.
Videos reanimating other dead figures, including Malcolm X, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and Amy Winehouse, have flooded social media since the release of Sora 2 on September 30.
“While there are strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures, OpenAI believes that public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used,” the joint statement said.
The company said authorized representatives or property owners can now request that their images not be used in AI-generated videos, known as “Sora cameos.”
OpenAI thanked Bernice King, King’s daughter, who works on behalf of the estate, “for reaching out,” as well as businessman John Hope Bryant and the AI Ethics Council “for creating a space for conversations like this.”
The text-to-video converter tool has shot to the top of download charts since its launch, but sparked immediate controversy.
Actor Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda Williams pleaded with people on Instagram to “stop sending me AI dad videos,” calling the content “disheartening.”
Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm Washington Post It was “deeply disrespectful” to see his father’s image used in crude and insensitive AI videos.
Malcolm X was assassinated in front of Shabazz in 1965 when he was two years old.
OpenAI had initially exempted “historical figures” from consent requirements when it launched Sora 2 last month, allowing anyone to create fake videos resurrecting public figures.
Sora 2 has already generated opposition in Hollywood, with the creative industry furious over OpenAI’s opt-out policy when it comes to the use of its copyrighted characters and content in generated videos.
Disney sent a strongly worded letter to OpenAI in late September stating that it “is not required to ‘opt out’ of the inclusion of your works” to preserve its copyright.
Amid the pushback, OpenAI promised it would give “more granular control” to rights holders.
After the Sora 2 app launched, the tool typically rejected requests for videos featuring Disney or Marvel characters, some users said.
However, clips featuring characters from other American franchises, as well as Japanese characters from popular games and anime series, were widely shared.
