OpenAI’s New Video App Is Jaw-Dropping (for Better and Worse): A Summary for Educators (Source: Isaac, M., & Tan, E. (2025, October 2). “OpenAI’s New Video App Is Jaw-Dropping (for Better and Worse).” The New York Times. 

A New Kind of Social Media — Powered by AI

In October 2025, The New York Times technology reporters Mike Isaac and Eli Tan explored OpenAI’s latest innovation: Sora, a revolutionary video-generation app that allows users to create hyper-realistic short videos with just a few text prompts and facial images. The app, available by invitation only, combines artificial intelligence and social networking, offering a TikTok-style experience that may reshape entertainment, communication, and education — for better and worse.

The authors describe their firsthand experiences generating surreal yet convincing clips: one of themselves skydiving with pizzas as parachutes, another playing baseball in a robot-filled stadium, and even a “Matrix”-inspired duel using cheeseburgers as weapons. Beneath the humor, however, lies a serious question: Is this the next frontier of creativity or the dawn of an uncontrollable deepfake era?

Sora’s Power and Appeal

Sora’s underlying AI technology, first introduced in 2024, has become faster, more intuitive, and more realistic. The latest version allows users to scan their faces to appear in AI-generated videos or create “Cameos” featuring celebrities and public figures.

In appearance and function, Sora mirrors TikTok: a scrollable “For You” feed, algorithmic recommendations, and social interactions such as likes and shares. But unlike traditional video platforms, Sora removes the need for cameras or editing — users simply describe what they want to see, and the AI generates it within minutes.

OpenAI’s product lead, Rohan Sahai, framed this as a democratizing move: “The best way to bring this technology to the masses is through something social.” With video now the dominant form of online expression, Sahai suggested that AI video creation could become as common as posting selfies or writing tweets.

Ethical, Educational, and Cultural Implications

While Sora’s creative potential is vast — from virtual storytelling to student projects and simulations — it also raises urgent ethical and safety concerns. Isaac and Tan witnessed a flood of AI-generated clips using copyrighted and recognizable pop-culture imagery. Users were already posting videos featuring characters like Pikachu or Rick and Morty, despite OpenAI’s limited content restrictions.

More troublingly, the app makes it alarmingly easy to create convincing deepfakes. One viral example showed a fake version of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stealing a graphics card from a store — an incident fabricated entirely within Sora. Experts like Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security, warned that this technology could “make it really easy to create a believable deepfake in a way that we haven’t quite seen yet.”

Hollywood and creative industries quickly reacted. The talent agency WME issued a memo declaring that all its clients were opting out of having their likenesses used, citing the urgent need for “real protections for artists and creatives.”

For educators, these developments underscore the necessity of AI literacy and digital ethics instruction. Students will need guidance on how to discern authentic media, respect intellectual property, and navigate identity in an era when “reality” can be easily manufactured.

The Slippery Slope of “Slop”

The authors note that the rise of AI video coincides with what critics call the “slop era”—a flood of nonsensical, low-effort AI content that overwhelms social feeds. From fake babies piloting airplanes to grandmothers smashing through bridges, these bizarre clips attract millions of views and blur the line between creativity and chaos.

Sahai acknowledged that Sora would inevitably contribute to this trend, but argued that “one man’s slop is another man’s gold.” He predicted that, as with any social platform, high-quality content would eventually rise above the noise.

The Future of AI Video Creation

Sora represents more than a technological milestone; it is a cultural and pedagogical challenge. For educators, it prompts reflection on what authenticity, authorship, and creativity mean in the digital age. Schools and universities will need to teach students how to ethically create and critically consume AI media, just as they once taught media literacy for photography and film.

As AI-generated video becomes accessible to everyone, the question for educators isn’t just how to use tools like Sora, but how to help students understand them responsibly.

Original Article

Citation: Isaac, M., & Tan, E. (2025, October 2). OpenAI’s New Video App Is Jaw-Dropping (for Better and Worse). The New York Times. Retrieved fromhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/technology/openai-sora-video-app...

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Prepared with the assistance of AI software

OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (4) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com