AIster · The agentic age · Products
OpenAI shuts down the Sora app
OpenAI announced the end of its AI video app about six months after launching it
Key facts
- Date
- 24 Mar 2026
- Era
- The agentic age
- Interest
- Products
- Threads
- Model wars, Safety & governance
- Announced
- 24 Mar 2026, on X
- App and web closed
- 26 Apr 2026
- API closed
- 24 Sep 2026
- In-app revenue
- About $2.1 million (Appfigures estimate, via TechCrunch)
OpenAI announced it was shutting down Sora, the AI video app it launched in September 2025, without giving an official reason. Reporting pointed to heavy compute costs and falling downloads, and the app had drawn criticism from copyright holders and deepfake experts. The app and web versions closed on 26 April 2026 and the API (the service developers used to build on Sora) on 24 September 2026.
Sources
- OpenAI Help Center, What to know about the Sora discontinuation, 2026-03-28
- NBC News, OpenAI is shutting down its Sora video-creation app, 2026-03-24
- TechCrunch, OpenAI’s Sora was the creepiest app on your phone — now it’s shutting down, 2026-03-24