Technologies

OpenAI’s New Social Media App Will Be All AI Videos, Thanks to New Sora 2 Model

The invite-only social media app will let you put yourself or your friends into AI-generated videos.

OpenAI wants our social media feeds to feature even more AI. Its AI video generator Sora is getting its own social media app, powered by a newly updated version of its AI video model called Sora 2, the company announced Tuesday via livestream.

The app will be a kind of social media platform, where you can follow your friends and share content. However, all of that content will be generated by AI. «It’s not posted by bots, it’s posted by humans, but it’s all AI-generated,» OpenAI’s Thomas Dimson said during the livestream. We’ll have to wait and see if the app does that or if it becomes another social media platform inundated with AI slop.

One of the biggest new features is Cameo, which lets you use your face or someone else’s face and insert it into an AI-generated scene. You can use other people’s likenesses to create videos if they’ve elected to have their cameos made public. You can also create videos with sound, a first for OpenAI and a feature that puts it on par with Google’s Veo 3, which stunned AI enthusiasts this summer. OpenAI said in a blog post that it’s also better at obeying the laws of physics, something AI video generators struggle with, thanks to better reasoning capabilities.

The app is currently only available to iPhone users. Android users will be able to use the new Sora through the web browser, but like iOS users, they’ll need an invite code. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Sora 2 invite codes: How they work

You can download the Sora app now from the Apple App Store. Look for the app that’s made by OpenAI and features a blue and white cloud icon. Though you can download it now, you won’t be able to use it right away.

Sora is an invite-only app, so you’ll need a friend to give you an access code. Each Sora user will be given four invite codes. The app is best enjoyed with friends, OpenAI said during the livestream, which likely explains the more restricted access. An OpenAI spokesperson said the «rollout is starting now» for the initial batch of access codes and that the company will roll it out quickly.

For now, I recommend downloading the app and signing in with your ChatGPT account (or creating a new account, if you don’t have one). Once you’re logged in, you can request to be notified when access codes become available.

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Sora 2 content moderation and safety

A truly usable and enjoyable social media platform relies heavily on the app’s content moderation and safety policies. This is a thorny, complex area, and it’s not something OpenAI has had to deal with before for a true social media app.

The company is starting off with intentionally being «a little conservative with moderation,» per the livestream, which makes sense, as it did the same when it launched its image and video generation models. It also has guardrails in place to prevent people from creating X-rated and graphic content, according to the livestream. We’ll have to see how effective those blockers are once the invite codes start rolling out. AI videos downloaded from Sora will be watermarked, so they should be recognizable as AI when shared on other sites.

AI in social media

This isn’t the first time the idea for an OpenAI-branded social media app has been floated. The Verge reported this spring that CEO Sam Altman was exploring the idea of a social media app, with a more recent report from Wired this week giving us some early insight into what that app, which we now know as the Sora app, might be like.

AI has become a big part of social media. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has flooded its apps with Meta AI, introducing it in search and with AI personas you can chat with via DM. Meta also rebranded its smart glasses app Meta View into the Meta AI app in April, featuring a similar feed of AI-generated content. AI media generation tools like image and video generators have led to an increase in low-quality, useless content referred to as AI slop. Despite OpenAI’s goal to have the Sora app focus on human connection, it seems likely that the feeds will feature a lot of this AI slop.

OpenAI dropped the first version of Sora in 2024, but it hasn’t had any big updates since then. In the meantime, the company has added image generation to its ChatGPT chatbot, which initially took off and started a trend of people using the model to create images of themselves in the iconic cartoon-like style of Studio Ghibli. The trend also amplified the ethical and legal concerns that come with AI media generation.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, Nov. 16

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 16.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? For me, 7-Across was a bit of a stumper, but I eventually solved it. Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Cars that stop at Supercharger stations
Answer: TESLAS

7A clue: What «e-» can mean
Answer: ONLINE

8A clue: Words that might begin the name of a quaint English inn
Answer: YEOLDE

9A clue: What «E» can mean
Answer: EMPTY

10A clue: Easter egg colorings
Answer: DYES

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Messed (with)
Answer: TOYED

2D clue: Ally’s opposite
Answer: ENEMY

3D clue: What «m» stands for in the equation «y = mx + b»
Answer: SLOPE

4D clue: Musical cadences of speech
Answer: LILTS

5D clue: Samberg of «Brooklyn Nine-Nine»
Answer: ANDY

6D clue: «___ what I did there?»
Answer: SEE

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 16, #889

Here are some hints — and the answers — for the NYT Connections puzzle for Nov. 16, #889.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a fun one. As a pop-culture junkie and game lover, I enjoyed the purple category. If you need help sorting the answers into groups, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Different strokes for different folks.

Green group hint: Ho-hum.

Blue group hint: Flags often qualify.

Purple group hint: Do not pass Go.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Technique.

Green group: Run-of-the-mill.

Blue group: Stripy things.

Purple group: Words on Monopoly squares.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is technique. The four answers are approach, method, philosophy and school.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is run-of-the-mill. The four answers are banal, everday, humdrum and pedestrian.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is stripy things.The four answers are barcode, IBM logo, rugby shirt and zebra.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is words on Monopoly squares. The four answers are avenue, parking, railroad and tax.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 16 #623

Here are hints — and answers — for the NYT Strands puzzle for Nov. 16, No. 623.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is tough. It’s a weird theme, and some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Around it goes.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: They’re often on a roll.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

CARE, SCARE, CRASS, SWAT, PELL, HELL, SCAR, HALT, STENT, HALTS, TENT, POLL, LOTS

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

FOIL, SCARF, SHAWL, STOLE, FLATBREAD, CELLOPHANE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is THATSAWRAP. To find it, start with the T that’s three letters up from the bottom of the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.