OpenAI has announced it will shut down its AI video generation app, Sora, potentially derailing Disney's 160 billion yen investment.

OpenAI has announced that it will shut down its AI video generation app, Sora. This also means that Disney's $1 billion (approximately 160 billion yen) investment in OpenAI will fall through.

Sora Shutting Down & Disney's Billion-Dollar Open AI Investment Is Dead
https://deadline.com/2026/03/sora-shut-down-disney-investment-1236764689/

OpenAI's Sora shutting down as Disney exits deal | Mashable
https://mashable.com/article/openai-sora-shutting-down

OpenAI just gave up on Sora and its billion-dollar Disney deal | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/899850/openai-sora-ai-chatgpt

OpenAI announces plans to shut down its Sora video generator - Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/openai-plans-to-shut-down-sora-just-15-months-after-its-launch/

On March 25, 2026, Sora's official X (formerly Twitter) account announced: 'We are saying goodbye to the Sora app. We would like to thank everyone who has used Sora to create, share, and build communities around their work. We know that what has been created with Sora is precious and that this announcement is very sad. We will be sharing more information soon, including a timeline for the termination of the app and API, as well as details on how to save your work.'

We're saying goodbye to the Sora app. To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.

We'll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on…

— Sora (@soraofficialapp) March 24, 2026

OpenAI announced 'Sora 2' at the end of September 2025 and released the social video sharing app Sora. However, because Sora 2 makes it easy to create videos containing popular characters such as Pikachu and Mario , the Japanese government has requested OpenAI to refrain from any actions that could infringe on copyright.

The Japanese government's formal request to OpenAI to refrain from copyright infringement, calling Japanese intellectual property such as anime and games 'irreplaceable treasures,' has become a hot topic overseas - GIGAZINE

Furthermore, Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli and industry associations in the content industry have also submitted requests to OpenAI.

Studio Ghibli and the content industry association CODA have submitted a request to the AI 'Sora 2' to refuse to use its characters in the AI, demanding a serious response to copyright issues - GIGAZINE

Subsequently, in December 2025, OpenAI entered into a licensing agreement with Disney to feature Disney-branded characters in its video generation AI, Sora, becoming a major content licensing partner. Under this agreement, Disney was scheduled to invest $1 billion in OpenAI, but a Disney spokesperson told Deadline that 'the deal has not progressed,' indicating that the deal fell through before completion.

Disney invests 160 billion yen in OpenAI, enabling the creation of Disney characters using Sora and ChatGPT - GIGAZINE

In response, a Disney spokesperson told Deadline, 'As the field of AI is rapidly developing and still in its infancy, we respect OpenAI's decision to withdraw from the video generation business and focus on other areas. We appreciate the constructive collaboration between the two teams and the lessons learned from it, and we will continue to work with AI platforms, exploring new ways to meet the needs of our fans while responsibly incorporating new technologies and respecting intellectual property rights and creator rights.'