Truths that are not clear to Sora
Just as Creative tool, Sora, OpenAI’s new AI video app, is a game-changer. Dream of any scenario and it will appear in an instant. Freddy Krueger as a racer on Dancing with the stars. Mr. Rogers Education of Tupac Shakur Lyrics to the legendary rap song “Hit Em Up”.
But as cool as his creations are, so is the potential to cause real harm to Sora.
This has been true for generative AI for as long as the technology has been around. The potential for abuse is inseparable from the miracle that AI genes can create. Sora simply expands the long history of the visual medium from “elaborate deception” to something stranger, more vivid, and less trustworthy. (This angle has been the focus of almost every story written about the app so far, and for good reason.)
“Skepticism should be the default for many of us as we navigate these times,” says Marlon Twyman, a quantitative sociologist at the University of Southern California Annenberg who specializes in social network analysis.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is aware of the risks. He suggested That Sora could herald the “Cambrian explosion” of creativity in art and entertainment, but could also contribute to “driving us all into the abyss” [reinforcement-learning-optimized] Waste feeding.”
But what’s even more interesting are the questions Sora asks about the future of social media and what we’re asking about it.
Like Vine and TikTok before it, Sora is designed to be addictive. Ten-second video clips. Infinite scrolling. Users can create a digital likeness of themselves and post content (called a “cameo”) by entering prompts; You are not allowed to upload photos or videos from your camera roll. The app’s popularity — which surpassed 1 million downloads in its first week — is ripe for this moment of deteriorating truths, where the value of truth and reason is increasingly diminished. Unlike Vine and TikTok, Twyman says Sora “seems like an obvious artifact of the current phase of social media.” “It’s not about the people anymore.”
This is a growing concern among developers who say there are now too many social networking apps that have the wrong understanding of social dynamics. Like Sora, they are “antisocial and nihilistic by nature,” says Rudy Fraser, creator of Blacksky, the feed and moderation service dedicated to Black users on Bluesky. “They have given up on promoting real human connection and are looking to profit from providing people with artificial connection and manufactured dopamine.”
Many will assume that Sora represents a new era of social media, but that is wrong. All it does is revive our current state. It’s trying to stick to something people don’t use very often. “We are definitely past the era of hashtags, clout chasing, and the desire to go viral on social media,” says Fraser.