CAA Slams OpenAI’s Sora 2 For Posing ‘Serious and Harmful Risks’ to Clients’ Intellectual Property: ‘Compensation Is a Fundamental Right’
Leading Hollywood agency CAA issued a statement rejecting OpenAI‘s video model Sora 2, which has sent shockwaves through the industry for allowing users to create clips using copyrighted IP.
“CAA is unwavering in our commitment to protect our clients and the integrity of their creations,” the agency said in a statement on Wednesday. “The misuse of new technologies carries consequences that reach far beyond entertainment and media, posing serious and harmful risks to individuals, businesses, and societies globally. It is clear that Open AI/Sora exposes our clients and their intellectual property to significant risk.”
The statement goes on to question OpenAI of “disregarding global copyright principles and blatantly dismissing creators’ rights.” It deemed “control, permission for use, and compensation” a “fundamental right” for the usage of copyrighted material, and that anything less should be considered “unacceptable.”
CAA’s statement continues, “We are open to hearing the solutions that Open AI has to these critical issues and remain steadfast in our work with intellectual property businesses and leaders, and creative guilds and unions, as well as state and federal legislators and global policymakers, to answer these challenges and set an aligned path for the future.”
Sora 2 operates on an opt-out system, meaning that if any rights holders object to having their IP used on the site, they could notify OpenAI and have it removed. However, some have recognized this as shaky legal ground. Under copyright law, rights holders can sue and obtain statutory damages for infringements, regardless of the opt-out policy.
On Oct. 3, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Sora 2 will soon be updated to give copyright holders “more granular control over generation of characters.” However, there was no assurance that copyrighted material would be removed from the platform entirely.
The Motion Picture Association was one of the first major Hollywood institutions to disavow the OpenAI platform. It said in a statement on Monday, “While OpenAI clarified it will ‘soon’ offer rightsholders more control over character generation, they must acknowledge it remains their responsibility – not rightsholders’ – to prevent infringement on the Sora 2 service. OpenAI needs to take immediate and decisive action to address this issue. Well-established copyright law safeguards the rights of creators and applies here.”
Disney and Universal sued another AI leader, Midjourney, in June for allowing users to create videos and images infringing on their copyright through its site. Waner Bros. also took legal action against Midjourney in September. Midjourney claimed that AI training is “fair use” under copyright law and that if users are infringing on copyrighted IP, they are doing so of their own accord and violating the terms of service.
