SAN FRANCISCO, California: ChatGPT-maker OpenAI will soon roll out new tools allowing copyright owners to control how their characters and content are used in its AI video app, Sora, and will offer a revenue-sharing model for those who opt in, CEO Sam Altman said.

Altman wrote in a blog post that the company will provide rights holders “more granular control over generation of characters.” The new system will let television and film studios, among others, decide whether to allow or block the use of their intellectual property in AI-generated videos.

The move comes amid growing scrutiny over how generative AI platforms use copyrighted material, as companies across the entertainment industry push for more explicit protections and compensation frameworks.

OpenAI launched Sora this week as a standalone app, initially in the U.S. and Canada. The app allows users to generate short, 10-second videos from text prompts. The app quickly gained popularity, with users creating and sharing clips that often borrow from familiar media franchises.

People familiar with the matter told Reuters that at least one major studio, Disney, has opted out of Sora, underscoring Hollywood’s unease with AI-generated content.

Altman said OpenAI plans to introduce a revenue-sharing system to compensate copyright holders who allow their characters to appear in user-generated videos. “It will take some trial and error to figure out,” he acknowledged, adding that the company intends to test different approaches before applying a unified framework across its products.

Sora’s rapid rise highlights both the creative potential and legal challenges of AI video generation. Users have produced more content than expected, often aimed at niche audiences, Altman said, prompting OpenAI to accelerate plans for monetization.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI has been expanding its multimodal AI offerings since launching the Sora model for public use last year, competing with text-to-video tools from Meta and Google.

Meta recently unveiled its own short-form video platform, Vibes, featuring AI-generated clips designed for social media feeds. As these tools proliferate, pressure is mounting on tech firms to find a balance between innovation, user creativity, and copyright protection.