How Sam Altman Played Hollywood

OpenAI's CEO brazenly regurgitated major studios' characters to allow video app Sora 2 to spit out clips tailor-made for users. Insiders at the major agencies are alarmed - and some wonder whether the studios are doing enough

- BY WINSTON CHO

No one knew what was going on. It was late September, just days before OpenAI rolled out a new social media app for its video generator, Sora, and whispers were swirling of changes that would undercut Hollywood. A major talent agency, which learned of the upcoming news through the grapevine, wondered why its C-suite hadn’t heard from the Sam Altman-led start-up yet, according to an agency executive (exec) involved with the talks. The talent firm reached out.

The first round of talks between the two sides was contentious. OpenAI was “purposely misleading,” says this agency exec who was part of the heated back-and-forth. The tech giant personnel leading the discussions took an upbeat tone, repeatedly talking up an opt-in regime that would protect the agency’s clients against the misuse of their intellectual property and likenesses. Hollywood will be happy with the improved guardrails on Sora 2.0, stressed OpenAI's team, which included CFO Brad Lightcap, Sora product lead Rohan Sahai, media partnerships vice president Varun Shetty and talent partnerships lead Anna McKean, according to the exec. It turned out that wasn’t the case. “We started exchanging notes with others having similar conversations and realised we're all hearing different things,” this person says.

Among the discrepancies: the treatment of likenesses versus intellectual property. Tellingly, some execs were told an opt-in would be required for both. Others were told the opposite, or weren’t notified of the distinction. OpenAI's messaging was haphazard to Hollywood.