What Musicians Need to Know About Sora 2
Sora 2 from OpenAI is a robust AI text to video creation tool that presents both frightening and exciting possibilities. Here’s what musicians need to know about Sora 2.
What Musicians Need to Know About Sora 2
by Talia Smith-Muller from Berklee Online’s takenote
What Open AI’s Sora 2 Means for Musicians, from Deepfake Risks to New Creative Possibilities
When OpenAI released Sora 2 at the end of September 2025, the internet flooded with absurd short videos, like Einstein fighting in a UFC boxing match, Ronald McDonald riding a giant hamburger in a police chase, and Michael Jackson hanging out with Walter White from Breaking Bad. Though access is still limited, some are saying that Sora is taking “brain-rot” content and “AI slop” to a whole new level. IP holders are pushing OpenAI to restrict use of copyrighted characters, and public figures are calling for stronger safeguards over their likeness. Amid the concerns about copyright violation and deception, some see the creative potential of generating nearly any video imaginable, once (and if) these issues get sorted out.
What is Sora 2?
Sora 2 is a text-to-video model created by OpenAI, the same company behind ChatGPT. It allows users to type a written prompt and generate a short video based on that description. Sora includes a social media component, where users can view, share, and interact with AI-generated videos on a feed.
Ben Camp, the course author of AI for Songwriters at Berklee Online, has been experimenting with the web browser version of Sora 2. So far, they say it’s pretty convincing. “I haven’t tried anything ambitious with it, but what I’ve seen has been pretty decent. The quality of the output is better than most of the videos that I see on Instagram.”
Still, Camp says it’s not perfect. “You can’t see reflections on what should have reflections in the glass, that might be a tell that it’s AI-generated. Or for example, the quality of the video will be a little bit—not grainy—but look like it’s from an iPhone. Whereas the quality of the lighting will look like it’s from a Hollywood scene.”
Who Has Access to Sora 2?
As of October 2025, Sora 2 is limited to users in the US and Canada. The app is currently available on iOS (iPhone), though users can still use Sora via web browser. Access is invite-only and requires a code.
Cameo Feature
Users have the option to use the “cameo” feature to record their faces and voices to appear in videos created by Sora. In the settings, you can select whether you want your likeness to be available only to you, to your followers, or to all users. There’s always the question of whether the technology will honor your level of consent once it has your data.
“If everything goes gravy, then when I opt out and OpenAI says, ‘Okay, we’re not going to generate anything that looks like Ben,’ and that’s the end of that. If things don’t go gravy, then users can find ways to bypass my opt-out request, and make any deepfake Ben Camp videos they want,” says Camp.
Copyrighted Content
The biggest news stories surrounding Sora 2 have involved the issue of copyright infringement in Hollywood. Initially, OpenAI said that studios would be opted into Sora 2 unless they opted out. After intense pushback from the Motion Picture Association and SAG-AFTRA, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a blog post on his website, “We will give rightsholders more granular control over generation of characters, similar to the opt-in model for likeness but with additional controls.”
“If Sora can generate new episodes of South Park, or The Simpsons, or Rick and Morty, there’s a chance that people are going to just make their own fan-made episodes,” says Camp. “That won’t benefit all the people who spend all the time animating, creating, developing a concept, recording the voiceovers, etc.”
Ethical Concerns
In addition to copyright infringement, one of the biggest concerns is the deception that could happen as a result of hyper-realistic videos with fake content.
“Fraud is a big issue and AI video is only going to increase the scale of it,” says Camp. “Somebody could generate content with your likeness and it’s espousing a political view that you don’t support, or supporting a company and you don’t believe in their business practices, or is espousing hate speech. I think most people just wouldn’t want their likeness to be able to be used to generate speech that disagrees with their beliefs.”
How Could Sora Affect the Music Industry?
Deception doesn’t have to be on a grand scale in order to cause damage, particularly in the music industry.
“If I can pose as you, and release music, I’m going to capture your audience,” says Camp. “Those fans may form a bad opinion of you if they don’t like what I release, or maybe I collect some of your royalties, or maybe you lose fans because of what I’m posting. There’s any number of scenarios that could be detrimental to artists. I shouldn’t be able to deepfake you, and manipulate your audience. Your fans are yours, not AI’s.”
Possibilities
While there is plenty to be cautious about in regards to Sora 2, there are ways in which it could help musicians and artists.
“Whether we’re talking AI music generators, or AI videos, image or video generators, or AI text generators, I as an artist have access to tools that I can make a music video that I just could not have made before, that was physically impossible to make before, or financially prohibitive to make before,” says Camp. “If you give an artist a tool, they’ll figure out a way to make art with it.”
Why This Matters to Musicians
Whether you’re eager to download Sora 2 or stay as far away from it as possible, Camp says that staying up to date on these technological advances and knowing what they’re capable of will only help musicians in the long run.
“I do think that people should be educated about it. Media literacy is important, and AI literacy is important, whether or not you’re pro or anti,” says Camp. “And that’s part of the reason that I teach the AI for Songwriters course; I invite people who are actively against it, not because I want to change their minds, but because I think it’s important to have the discourse about it, and understand what it can do. Whether or not you like what it can do, understanding what it can do is important to understanding its impact on us, whether you want to fight it or support it.”
