As language models continue to offer breakthroughs in the domain of artificial intelligence and machine learning, newer protocols and methodologies continue to impress with their unique capabilities. AI image generators like Midjourney and Dall-E 3 demonstrated how text-to-image models can render crisp and well-defined visual representations based on worded prompts, OpenAI has now demonstrated similar capabilities in the domain of videos. Sora, a new text-to-video model, is among the first of its kind, converting text prompts into full-length videos. Besides being pertinent to the mentioned prompt, the produced videos are also visually appealing and rather realistic. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the model on February 15, 2024, on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Enthusiasts quickly caught wind of the major announcement, and select developers with access have tested the groundbreaking text-to-video AI framework in the aftermath.
With Sora’s announcement, OpenAI is doing its best to stay ahead of the competition in the AI space. Given that rival firms like Google have been upping their efforts to make their mark in the industry with the launch of advanced models such as Gemini, OpenAI is actively looking to churn out advanced AI applications and technology demonstrations to keep its clients and markets eager for more. Named after the word for the sky in Japanese, Sora opens up multiple opportunities for AI in multimedia, furthering the prospects of automated protocols in numerous industries.
OpenAI’s Sora and Its Capabilities
Sora is still in its early stages, with demonstrations ongoing with a select few testers.
The model Sora is mainly built to provide video output for text-based prompts. The underlying language model makes sense of words using natural language processing and, based on generative AI capabilities, creates visuals, which it pieces together to result in video output. Sora’s text-to-video model is capable of creating numerous scenes and videos that contain specific motions, a variety of environments, and even highly specific subjects. The model can also make sense of how objects interact with one another within the desired video based on the instructions provided by the user in the prompt. Interestingly, the AI-generated content produced by Sora can also contain multiple shots within a video, allowing for a complex and rich rendition of the environment described within the prompt.
While engineered prompts and attention to specifics will be a primary necessity to handle OpenAI’s Sora, the model is still in its early stages and is just undergoing demonstrations. The content it produces is rich and immersive, allowing for a range of possibilities that can transform the multimedia space. OpenAI primarily suggests that Sora can be used to build capable simulators of the natural world and also to create realistic visuals for the gaming industry. The text-to-video AI still struggles with certain complex aspects of causality, but given that the technology is still in its infancy, it can be understood that these hallucinatory tendencies might reduce over time.
The Technical Aspects of Text-To-Video Generators
Video generators work on the same principle as image generators and are the next stage in the progression of image generation models.
Text-to-video AI models are based on diffusion protocols that are generally applied in the case of image generators. Sora, being a natural progression of diffusion models, extrapolates the functional principle and creates videos based on underlying information. The diffusion model also utilizes transformer architectures to support the processing of text inputs. With extant data, the protocols add noise to it and then revert the data to its original state to create what the firm refers to as “patches.” These patches are then placed together in succession to create a freely flowing video with numerous frames and scenes. Patches in the context of text-to-video AI models resemble tokens, as in the case of text-based models like ChatGPT or Claude.
Sora, being in its early stages, struggles with a few aspects of video generation, such as the disappearance of objects when they’re too close in proximity within a frame. Known as occlusion, this glitch does remain a challenge for the novel AI protocol, and engineers will likely work to remedy, or at least minimize, the occurrence of this issue. In addition, other glitches are also prevalent. While this does not directly translate to data-based issues such as AI bias, it does indicate that the flaw lies in the way a machine tries to build reality within an environment based on a text-based prompt. Since models themselves find it difficult to simulate the exact way physical laws of nature function, these challenges will have to be ascertained and approached from alternative perspectives to generate more realistic renditions.
The Prospects for Sora from OpenAI
AI video generators can be very useful for simulators.
While it has a few drawbacks, Sora is still an immensely capable and groundbreaking piece of technology that has set a new bar for the AI and ML domains. With numerous potential use cases, the demand for text-to-video AI models is bound to skyrocket in the coming years. Since the model is not yet available to the general public, considerable speculation still exists on the full range and capabilities of OpenAI’s Sora. The video renditions are crisp and rather realistic, with smooth transitions. OpenAI has mentioned that the training data set contains numerous videos and their captions to allow the model to understand the correlation between frames, scenes, and the text describing them. Since Sora is a work in progress, numerous factors, such as the use of responsible AI, copyright, and quality, will have to be ascertained before its broader release to the general public.
FAQs
1. Is OpenAI’s Sora available to the public?
No, Sora is still in its testing stages and has only been demonstrated to display its potential capabilities.
2. What type of AI model does Sora from OpenAI run on?
Sora uses a diffusion model, which is often used by AI image generators. However, unlike AI image generators, Sora functions on video data to create “patches” and place them together.
3. When will Sora be available to the public?
No information exists on when OpenAI’s Sora will be made available. Since the model is still being tested, it can be expected that it will be launched officially sometime in 2024.