More deep fake woes for Sora
October 17, 2025
OpenAI has paused the ability for users to generate deep fakes resembling the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr on its Sora app. It says it’s doing so at the request of Dr King’s estate after “disrespectful depictions” of his image appeared.
“While there are strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures, OpenAI believes public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used,” OpenAI said in a post on X. “Authorised representatives or estate owners can request that their likeness not be used in Sora cameos.”
The restriction comes weeks after OpenAI launched its social video platform, Sora, which allows users to create realistic AI-generated videos resembling historical figures, their friends, and users who elect to have their likeness recreated on the platform.
Dr Bernice King, Dr King’s daughter, asked people to stop sending her AI videos resembling her father. She joined Robin Williams’ daughter, who also asked Sora users to stop generating AI videos of her father.
As well as how Sora represents humans, the launch has also raised a concerns around how social media platforms should handle AI videos of copyrighted works. The Sora app is also full of videos depicting cartoons like SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park and Pokémon.
OpenAI has added other restrictions to Sora. Earlier in October, the company said it planned to give copyright holders more granular control over the types of AI videos that can be generated with their likeness.
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