OpenAI Just Killed Sora — Here's What That Tells Us About the Real AI Race

OpenAI Just Killed Sora — Here's What That Tells Us About the Real AI Race OpenAI announced this morning that it's shutting down the Sora app. A product that launched just months ago to widespread fanfare, genuine Hollywood anxiety, and a billion-dollar Disney partnership — gone, with a Twitter farewell post and a CFO blaming "a lack of compute." Meanwhile, OpenAI simultaneously announced it's expanding its funding round to over $120 billion , bringing in Andreessen Horowitz, T. Rowe Price, and others for what may be its last private raise before an IPO. Let that paradox sit for a second: a company that cannot spare compute to run a video app just raised more money than the GDP of some small countries. Something much more interesting is happening here, and today's AI news cycle makes it impossible to ignore. The Sora Post-Mortem Nobody's Writing When OpenAI first showed Sora in early 2024, it was described not just as a video generator, but as a "world simulator" — a step toward AGI th