The executive producer of *Kung Fu Panda* wants to "resurrect" Sora

Zhidx October 13 news, according to The Information, an AI video startup focused on film and television production is currently in talks with OpenAI to obtain access to Sora, the video generation model that OpenAI shut down earlier, and carry out in-depth customization on this basis to sell related software and services to filmmakers.

The company's co-founders include top Hollywood filmmaker and DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg (Jeffrey Katzenberg), former head of OpenAI Sora research Bill Peebles (Bill Peebles), and former Dropbox Chief Financial Officer Sujay Jaswa (Sujay Jaswa).

The three co-founded the company in recent months, and the company's name has not yet been disclosed.

People familiar with the matter revealed that if the two parties finally reach an agreement, OpenAI will obtain a partial equity stake in this startup, but the specific shareholding ratio remains unclear.

01. OpenAI exchanges Sora usage rights for startup equity, former Sora lead takes over with Hollywood team

According to insiders, the startup hopes to obtain access to the Sora model and deeply modify it to meet the needs of film and television production.

At present, the two sides are still in the negotiation stage, and it has not been confirmed whether the startup can obtain the model weights of Sora. Model weights are the core parameters that determine the output mode of the model, and for OpenAI, they are strictly protected core assets.

However, the partner of this cooperation is special. One of the co-founders of the startup, Peebles once led the Sora project and understands the operation and training methods of the model, so it is not surprising that OpenAI shares weights or other sensitive information with it.

Katzenberg and Jaswa are also co-founders of technology investment firm WndrCo, which has previously invested in a number of enterprise-level AI companies. According to The Information's report on September 10, WndrCo is in talks with potential investors including venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) for a large-scale round of financing, with specific terms and amounts not yet disclosed. The report also mentioned that the company plans to independently develop self-owned video models directly for filmmakers, on the premise of obtaining sufficient financing.

If the transaction is completed, the startup will get sufficiently in-depth model access rights to make substantial customizations to Sora. OpenAI will obtain equity in the new company, but people familiar with the matter said the two sides have not disclosed the specific equity amount.

02. Sora explores new commercialization paths after shutdown, OpenAI intends to trade open technology for equity returns

The high cost of Sora is the reason why OpenAI chose to let it go. OpenAI has invested a lot of capital and time in developing Sora, but the cost of building and running Sora is too high, so OpenAI decided to shift resources to other models.

In May this year, OpenAI decided to shut down the Sora video generation model and its supported TikTok-like short video application, a decision related to Sora's high R&D and operating costs.

Sora was shut down in May this year, Source: X

But shutting down does not mean giving up returns. This potential cooperation with the startup provides a new commercial possibility for Sora: by opening up technology in exchange for equity to the startup, OpenAI has the opportunity to continue to get part of the return on previous R&D investment without directly operating Sora products. This is equivalent to converting Sora from a self-operated product to a technology licensing asset, with external teams bearing the operation and customization costs, and OpenAI sharing potential benefits as a shareholder.

At the same time, xAI and Google continue to advance their respective video models, and the market space left by Sora is being filled by competitors. However, OpenAI has not shrunk because of this, but diverted resources to other directions: according to the recruitment information posted by Sam Altman (Sam Altman) on X platform on June 1 this year, OpenAI has officially established a robotics team; according to The Information's September report, Sam Yam, co-founder of Patreon, joined OpenAI to lead the newly established "Creator Products" department and promote the personal device initiative.

03. Conclusion: The revival of Sora is still pending negotiation, where will its fate head?

Whether Sora can transform from a discontinued consumer-grade product to a professional tool serving film production depends on the result of this negotiation.

If the negotiation is finalized, OpenAI will not only avoid the cost pressure of computing power, but also push this technology back into the professional production process with external support.

If the negotiation fails, Sora may remain in the discontinued state, and OpenAI's technical asset will continue to be idle.

For the film and television industry, this negotiation means that there will be one more option for professional AI video tools.

This article is from WeChat official account "Zhidx", Author: Huang Fei, Editor: Jiang Yu, published by 36Kr with authorization.