When OpenAI launched the Sora 2 video generator last week, the company wrote that it was taking measures to "block depictions of public figures" by default. But creators and viewers of Sora 2 videos are finding that prohibition has a rather large loophole, allowing for videos of public figures that happen to be dead.
Examples of celebrities being posthumously inserted into Sora 2 video creations are not hard to find all over social media these days. Tupac Shakur chatting with Malcolm X. Bruce Lee running a "dragon energy" DJ set. Michael Jackson doing kitchen-based standup comedy. Stephen Hawking's wheelchair wiping out on a giant skateboard ramp. Mister Rogers doing a cameo on Jackass. Kurt Kobain stealing KFC chicken fingers. Martin Luther King Jr. stuttering through a major speech. The list goes on and on.
OpenAI places a moving Sora watermark over each generated video, which limits the risk of viewers being fooled by fake footage of real people. Still, seeing these deceased celebrities used as props by an AI tool can obviously be upsetting to their living relatives and fans.
