Update: On October 3, 2025 OpenAI responded to a widespread backlash by retracting earlier statements and promising guardrails for the use of third party copyrighted material. We will continue to monitor developments.

OpenAI’s new Sora 2, a social media video and audio generator, is in the process of infringing the works of millions of content creators. The latest version will generate revenue from third party intellectual property without compensating the original owner. OpenAI states that “a major milestone for [Sora 2] is mastering pre-training and post-training on large-scale video data.” The major studios and talent agencies may have the resources to challenge this egregious flouting of traditional intellectual property law. But this AI business model of, as the Wall Street Journal (September 29, 2025) has characterized it, asking for forgiveness rather than permission, and waiting to be sued is particularly problematic for smaller studios and talent agencies with fewer resources.

The default setting for Sora 2 will be that owners of copyright are opted into the system and must affirmatively opt out to avoid having their intellectual property infringed. Sora 2’s terms go against the well-established foundation of copyright law, which functions to incentivize the dissemination of works by providing economic benefits to authors of works.

OpenAI’s aggressive approach seems to be banking either on the assumption that its use is transformative or a deliberate choice to pay any court-ordered judgments rather than compensate the individuals whose work they are using.

Major studios are taking the lead in challenging OpenAI and others in courts. In June 2025, the Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios sued AI powerhouse Midjourney for infringing upon their protected copyrighted work to train its AI image generator, which would produce immediately recognizable characters such as Darth Vader, The Minions, Iron Man, and Yoda. Midjourney responded to the suit claiming fair use. But by the time these cases are decided, the harm has already been done. At the moment, the only financially viable recourse for smaller studios, talent agencies and other content creators is to be diligent in opting out before the damage is done.

OpenAI has begun notifying talent agencies and studios that the Sora 2 video generator may include copyrighted material unless the rights holder explicitly opts out. Upon receipt of such notice, content creators and talent agencies must act immediately to exercise the opt out provision and report violations. And to make the burden more challenging, according to the Wall Street Journal, a blanket opt out will not be accepted — each copyrighted work must be identified.

With the burden being placed on content providers to contact OpenAI (and others that will likely follow their model) Lutzker & Lutzker is here to help you protect your intellectual property. For further reading from our website on the topics discussed here, see the following insights and IP Bits & Pieces: Midjourney AI Suit, AI Can’t Hold Copyrights, and our Copyright FAQs and AI FAQs.