Earlier this year, OpenAI introduced Sora, a cutting-edge text-to-video generator, to a select group of professional filmmakers and creatives. This innovative platform allows users to type in a prompt and, within minutes, receive a one-minute, soundless video in response. Much like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which sparked widespread excitement and concern two years ago, Sora has generated both enthusiasm and apprehension within creative industries.
The commercial potential of Sora became apparent in June when Toys “R” Us released what they claimed was the first advertisement created using the tool. As more companies like Runway, Pika, Luma Labs, and Stability AI (known for their image generator, Stable Diffusion) develop similar technologies, it’s becoming clear that AI-generated video content will soon be a standard part of the media landscape.
But what does this mean for artists?
In March, Alexander Reben, OpenAI’s artist-in-residence, shared his first experiment with Sora on Instagram—a short film featuring 3D sculptures rotating in space. He announced plans to transform one of these digital creations, a humanoid figure, into a life-sized marble sculpture. Reben’s work, including many pieces that playfully engage with OpenAI’s technology, was showcased in a retrospective titled “AI Am I?” at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California. One installation featured a billboard that continually generated critiques of AI art, highlighting the ongoing debate around the role of AI in creative work.
Although Sora has yet to be publicly released—missing its initial August launch date—Reben is not alone in his exploration of AI’s potential to create meaningful art.
Sarp Kerem Yavuz, a Turkish-American artist who has incorporated AI into his photography for years, suggests that contemporary artists might need to see themselves more as directors rather than solitary creators. “We often underestimate the artistic effort involved in creating AI-generated works,” Yavuz told ARTnews. He emphasized that while many contribute to a film, we still recognize the director’s creative vision. Yavuz does not label himself an “AI artist”; instead, he views AI as just another tool in his creative arsenal. After generating images from numerous prompts, he meticulously edits and refines them. His AI-generated Polaroid series, “Polaroids from the Ottoman Empire,” which imagines an alternate reality where a contemporary Ottoman Empire exists with queer individuals, was recently acquired by the Leslie Lohman Museum.
Yavuz is part of a growing movement of artists who integrate AI into their work without allowing it to define them. As these boundaries blur, platforms like Sora could play a key role in normalizing the use of AI among artists.
Aindrea Emelife, curator of modern and contemporary art at the upcoming Edo Museum of West African Art, sees AI as another tool artists can leverage. She believes AI offers artists the freedom to explore endless possibilities. Emelife curated the Nigerian Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, where Fatimah Tuggar’s works, which combine AI and augmented reality, explore the impact of colonization and globalization on indigenous crafts. “Artists are innovators,” Emelife said. “We should look to them to uncover the true potential of new technologies.”
Filmmakers, too, are recognizing the opportunities that generative video platforms like Sora present, especially for independent projects outside the traditional Hollywood system. Artist and filmmaker Paul Trillo, who has been experimenting with generative AI, has used Sora to create short films and music videos. His recent works include a short film set in the Louvre, titled Absolve, and a video art piece, Notes to My Future Self, showcased at the Telefónica Foundation Museum in Madrid.
For a music video he produced for the band Washed Out, Trillo generated over 700 clips to tell the story of a couple’s life together through an “infinite dolly shot.” He noted that creating the same scenes with traditional methods would have been costly and time-consuming. “Generative AI not only lets me revisit old ideas but also fundamentally changes how I work,” Trillo told ARTnews. He explained that AI enables a fluid process between ideation and creation, often leading to ideas that wouldn’t have emerged otherwise. According to Trillo, AI’s ability to evoke surreal, dreamlike images makes it uniquely suited to represent the subconscious.
For artist Madeline Gannon, whose work explores the relationship between AI and human-robot interactions, Sora holds promise for expanding the reach of AI in creative fields. Gannon is eager to experiment with Sora, believing it will enable her to explore new dimensions in human-robot relationships. “I’m excited about tools like Sora making advanced technology more accessible to artists,” she told ARTnews, noting that video is often a foundational element in interactive, spatial media.
AI-generated art is here to stay. The 60th Venice Biennale, for instance, features several works that explore AI’s role in art. At the Pavilion of Malta, artist Matthew Attard blends AI-generated imagery with traditional drawing and photography. Meanwhile, one of today’s most talked-about artists, Turkish-American new media artist Refik Anadol, has been pushing the boundaries of human-machine collaboration for nearly a decade. His AI-generated installation, Unsupervised—Machine Hallucinations, was acquired by MoMA in 2023 after a nearly year-long exhibition in the museum’s lobby. For Anadol, AI and data are simply new tools for artistic expression.
As platforms like Sora continue to evolve, they will undoubtedly open new creative horizons for artists, filmmakers, and creatives across the globe, challenging traditional notions of authorship and artistic labor.
