Recently, a major player in the AI video generation space surprisingly and abruptly took itself out of the game when ChatGPT founder Sam Altman announced shutting down of OpenAI’s short-form AI video generation tool Sora. In a social media climate where AI generated images and videos are aplenty on everybody’s feed, this strikes as a slightly unexpected move.
It hasn’t even been a year since the video platform was launched in September 2025, a tool for creating and sharing AI-made videos, with a feed that resembles TikTok’s. In his announcement Altman spoke of wanting to dedicate focus and resources to the coder community, rather than the creator community, teasing the imminent launch of Codex, a coding agent which is currently in the works.
Pivot from Creators to Coders
The shutting down of Sora won’t exactly pose an impediment, as AI generation tools for images and videos are aplenty, many of them free. If the sheer number of AI videos on the internet is any indication, AI video creation tools are here to stay. It is up to the viewers, publishers, and platforms to ascertain and put in checks to screen for them.
AI video tools similar to Sora are available and popular. Gemini’s Google Veo is another such professional tool, offering four different plans — Basic, AI Plus, AI Pro and AI Ultra — at increasing prices, allowing for a set number of video generations in a day. The Basic plan does not allow for any video generation.
Another tool is the Runway, which is essentially a video making tool with AI generation capabilities in its Gen 4.5 version. LTX Studio is another all-in-one AI generation platform, available for subscriptions, that can combine scripting, and storyboarding into professional grade videos, much like Gemini’s Veo’s Plus, Pro and Ultra versions. Adobe’s Firefly is a video editing tool with AI content generation capabilities. Invideo AI can generate 30-minute videos and provides access to stock image and content providers like iStory and Storyblocks, to name a couple. Pika offers similar functions, with Pika Selves being a tool where one can create AI versions of themselves. Its tagline reads: “Your AI self can be true to you, or someone else entirely. It’s up to you.”
While Veo and Runway offer long form videos – closer to Sora, Kling AI offers 120-second short clips, is less technical and more user friendly than the former two.
Luma Dream Machine does the same, promising high visual quality as it’s known for its capacity to simulate real world physics and lighting. These are only a handful of AI video editing and generation tools that are available for use.
Many of them run on credit-based systems, where subscriptions allow the users a certain number of credits on a daily or monthly basis that can be used to make videos.
Infinite AI Alternatives
Endless AI videos of world leaders making statements, medical experts sharing advice, complementary videos to political and environmental conspiracy theories, and more circle the internet space.
Videos and pictures of the aftermath of the Israel-Iran war, the impact of the fuel crisis, etc, have featured much AI-generated content. Representative images and clips put together for news pieces are also often generated using AI tools.
In a more recent example, an AI generated video of the Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had been circulated on social media, claiming that he made certain contentious comments in the Rajya Sabha — the video was flagged and debunked by the Press Information Bureau later. This is not to say that AI video generators are being used only to generate controversial content, though that particular function is widely accepted — these platforms can prove incredibly useful for video creators who may not single handedly have all of the resources or capacities for a full production right at their fingertips.
We live in an age where full-length feature films can be made using AI, and at the same time, ‘No AI Film Festivals’ are being organised in a move to stand against the phenomenon. With Sora having backed out of the race, dropping the hefty deal with Disney for character likenesses on its way, will we see the emerging of more short form AI video generation tools to fill the gap, or will the traffic simply veer towards the plenty of other resources already at hand? Our Instagram accounts will doubtlessly offer some answers soon.