OpenAI’s Sora 2 Sparks Global Copyright Infringement Lawsuits and Ethical Debate

OpenAI's newly released Sora 2 app, a video generation tool, has rapidly gained popularity by enabling users to create high-definition videos from simple text prompts, including lifelike "cameos" of themselves and copyrighted characters like Mario and Pikachu. However, this capability has sparked widespread concern and debate about copyright infringement and the ethics of training AI models on copyrighted content without permission, as Sora 2 appears to replicate stylistic elements and scenes from popular media with striking accuracy. Experts and legal scholars warn that OpenAI, along with other AI companies such as Google and Suno, faces multiple lawsuits alleging unauthorized use of copyrighted works for training their generative models, challenging the current understanding of fair use in AI development. While OpenAI has not fully disclosed the extent of its training data, reports suggest it includes billions of video frames potentially scraped from public and licensed sources, raising fears of deepfake misuse and intellectual property violations. The viral nature of the app, showcasing controversial and often provocative AI-generated content, highlights the tension between technological innovation and the need for stronger copyright protections and ethical standards in AI media generation. This ongoing issue reflects a broader reckoning within the AI industry about data usage rights and the balance between creative progress and respecting original creators' work.