OpenAI’s Sora introduces ‘character cameos’ feature amid Cameo lawsuit controversy

In a remarkable development, OpenAI’s Sora app has introduced “character cameos”, a new feature that lets users create reusable avatars for its AI-generated videos.

These digital “characters” can be based on anything, from pets and toys to original illustrations, and come with customisable privacy settings that allow users to decide who can use them.

According to OpenAI, each character comes with its own display name, handle, and permission settings, meaning users can keep them private, share them with friends, or open them for public use.

The update builds on Sora’s earlier capability that allowed people to make AI deepfakes of themselves.

The Sora 2 update also adds two other major features: video stitching, which allows users to link multiple clips into one seamless sequence, and leaderboards, showcasing the most popular videos and characters across the app.

The update comes a day after "Cameo", the celebrity video platform, filed a trademark lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing it of infringing on its name with Sora’s new “cameo” feature.

Notably, OpenAI is temporarily making Sora more accessible, allowing users in the US, Canada, Japan, and South Korea to sign up without an invitation for a limited time.