Experts Speak

Experts foresee Open AI’s Sora democratising and cutting video production costs

Open AI unveiled its video creation AI tool, Sora, in the past week. Experts foresee how, with its ability to produce lifelike videos from text inputs, it could reshape the advertising landscape, revolutionizing content creation and sparking ethical considerations in the industry.

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Shamita Islur
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Open AI’s Sora

Have you ever seen a bicycle race on the ocean with different kinds of sea life posing as athletes, realistically so? This has been made possible on February 16, 2024, with Open AI’s latest creation - Sora. The software is said to be capable of producing lifelike one-minute videos from text inputs. 

In 2023, the ad world worked on creating ad copies and images using text-to-image tools provided by Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, 2024 is the year when we can enter the world of short-form video content - all because of lifelike videos generated from text inputs. 

Sam Altman, CEO at Open AI, introduced Sora on Friday, offering access to a “limited number of creators” who will help fine-tune the tool in the red teaming phase, aiming to identify and address any potential weaknesses. 

 

 

Altman then asked people to send prompt suggestions so as to provide real-time results through the AI-generated videos. This was when “the bicycle race on the ocean with different animals as athletes” came to life. 

 

Not just this, we also got two dogs podcasting on top of a mountain, a grandmother as a social media influencer giving a cooking session for homemade gnocchi, woolly mammoths roaming on snow-capped mountains, and more. The videos looked high-definition at first glance as the tool can create videos up to 60 seconds long using text instructions or text accompanied with an image.

 

GroupM India’s This Year Next Year (TYNY) report in 2024 estimates that AI and technology will dominate the content landscape and creator economy, with the overall ad revenue expected to reach INR 1,55,386 crore in 2024, with an incremental INR 14,423 crores compared to 2023. The report also suggested that the trend foresees a focus on video-based content in advertising. 

The introduction of Sora marks a significant shift in content creation, particularly in the realm of short-form video content, offering a new dimension of creativity and storytelling for advertisers. So how can Sora transform the advertising world?

Cutting Costs 

Chetna Negandhi, Director - Brand Communications, GOZOOP Group underscores the transformative potential of Sora, stating, “Sora's entry into the video production scene isn't just another tech moment – it's a complete game-changer set to shake things up. Imagine videos that look so incredibly real that they blur the lines between reality and AI magic.” 

 

Pratik Gupta, Co-Founder, The Zoo Media Network, echoes this sentiment by emphasising the tool’s ability to change how people can reach and communicate with their audience. 

Gupta notes, "Sora's arrival is a game-changer - it completely democratizes video production. This advancement will allow users to create content at unprecedented speed and scale, reshaping the way they connect with their audience." 

On the other hand, Yash Chandiramani, Founder and Chief Strategist, Admatazz highlights the cost-saving benefits of the AI tool. 

Chandiramani mentions, “The launch of Sora will have an even greater impact than the one we are seeing with image and text gen-AI Video content, which is the preferred format on social and other digital platforms. This will reduce the costs of video production tremendously, lower investments in stock footage, and reduce turnaround time for content.”

Investments in AI/ML technologies have increased with around 97% of Indian organisations partaking in it as per the Data Security Council of India (DSCI). Moreover, the Indian AI market is expected to reach USD 7.7 billion by 2025, with marketing being one of the key sectors driving this growth. 

Some of the biggest advertisers, like Nestle and Unilever, have already started investing in AI tools like ChatGPT, DALL.E, and more to cut costs and increase productivity, as per a Reuters report. With a larger focus on content generation, Sora could potentially help reduce costs for video generation as well. 

Ethical Considerations

As per the information available on the internet, the AI tool works on a large language model (LLM), which renders the movie depending on the clip art and stock videos available over the larger database as per the inputs given. With all the excitement surrounding Sora's capabilities, however, ethical considerations loom large. 

We have already seen recent examples of actor Rashmika Mandanna’s deepfake going viral, which has once again prompted concerns regarding the misuse of AI-generated content. 

Negandhi, too, elaborates that this not only sparks a conversation about the dos and don'ts but also delves deep into ethical considerations, concerns about job security, and the essence of our creative abilities. 

As AI rapidly evolves, becoming more capable and accessible than ever, AI-fueled misinformation and disinformation lead a ranking of global leaders' top concerns for the next two years as the 2024 election year kicks off and geopolitical conflict persists, the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Risks Report 2024 found.

This is why OpenAI has yet to make Sora publicly available, as it performs ‘red teaming,’ as mentioned by Sam Altman, where experts try to assess the tool’s potential for misuse. The select group of people currently testing Sora are “domain experts in areas like misinformation, hateful content and bias”, says an OpenAI spokesperson in a report.

With these concerns in mind, Amisha Gulati, Business Head - Mumbai, Sociowash, says that the technology's ability to revive still images, extend footage, and reanimate late actors for iconic roles opens up vast creative possibilities. 

“However, ethical concerns regarding transparency and misuse arise. Establishing a responsibility and accountability framework, through collaboration between advertising agencies, government bodies, and relevant stakeholders, is crucial to ensure the technology is used responsibly and doesn't fall into the wrong hands,” Gulati continues.

She further elaborates that transparency, clear disclosure, and regulations can address these concerns and strike a balance between pushing creative boundaries and maintaining ethical integrity.

Manesh Swamy, SVP - Chief Creative Officer, LS Digital, comments that over the last year, there has been a lot of conversation on the unethical usage of Gen AI; the dust hasn’t settled yet, which is why the initial period, per Swamy, should be to wait and watch.

“I know that as Agency folks and marketers, there will be the itch to use it for your campaigns on an immediate basis and ride on the first mover advantage. But I feel the need for a set of Guardrails on how to use this new system should be immediate.”

He also suggests an important thing to note before utilising an AI tool such as Sora to not get in legal trouble. 

Swamy mentions, “Before making it part of a full-blown campaign get your legal team involved and chart your course accordingly, as brand custodians it’s our job to safeguard our client's interests.”

Future of Short-Form Videos

While the realism of the videos created by Sora has already been deemed scary with memes flooding the internet with their versions of funny prompts and how people in the video space might lose their jobs now, it has been observed that creators and influencers have been utilising AI to try and create their content for them. 

Examples of this include YouTube channels like VSauce and Code Bullet utilising AI to enhance their content, with VSauce creating interactive videos and Code Bullet using generative AI for demonstrations in video game development. Additionally, influencers such as Amouranth on Twitch are leveraging AI to manage fan engagement, with Amouranth creating an AI version of herself to respond to messages in her voice. 

Moreover, AI has introduced the phenomenon of virtual influencers in India like Naina and Myra. It seems that AI-generated models will soon be taking over the jobs of influencers and runway models. Lopez, an AI-generated creation of a Spanish modeling agency, is Spain’s first-ever AI influencer, and she earns $11,000 a month, which is equivalent to INR 9,15,407. She also reportedly charges a fee of $1090 (about INR 90,700) per advertisement. 

LS Digital’s Manesh Swamy believes that the application usage will reduce the huge chunk of Turnaround time (TAT), followed by Costs. Also, it will drastically reduce the manual labor artists and visualizers put into a project. 

He says, “I am looking at all the AI tools including Sora as a trigger for inspiration and building over it, something that helps clients visualize the end product better, whether it is animatics/narimatics, or visual boards for a TVC/Social media asset.”

According to Swamy, this will enable content creators to connect with their audience more often and with better quality. 

Adding to this, Admatazz’s Yash Chandiramani continues, “While human-centric short form is going nowhere. I foresee a disruption in travel, lifestyle, and service industry content. It used to take days to find the right stock footage or weeks to shoot it. This will help create short forms at scale.”

He also mentions that with video making becoming so easy, the line between big brand and small brand advertising will fade, which means storytelling will be the most important factor once again in ads. There will be a great demand for talented copywriters, according to Chandiramani.

With its ability to produce lifelike videos from text inputs, Sora could democratise video production, enabling creators to connect with their audience at speed and scale. While its potential for creativity and efficiency is undeniable, ethical considerations surrounding the misuse of AI-generated content need to be evaluated. 

 

Pratik Gupta Yash Chandiramani Manesh Swamy Amisha Gulati Open AI Sam Altman AI Tool This Year Next Year Sora AI-generated videos video creation Chetna Negandhi