OpenAI has rolled out a new update for its Sora app, adding several creative tools to enhance its AI-powered video generation platform. The latest update, which the company announced on X, introduces character cameos, video stitching, and a new community leaderboard to help users build richer, more interactive AI videos.
Sora is OpenAI’s invite-only AI video app and social network that lets users create cinematic, anime-style, or photorealistic videos featuring themselves, friends, or AI-generated characters. Powered by OpenAI’s next-generation Sora 2 model, the app generates lifelike visuals with synchronized speech and ambient sound effects. At launch, the app was only available in the U.S. and Canada — and even then, access was limited to invited users.
Character cameos are the headline feature of this update. The new tool allows users to create reusable AI characters from any uploaded video, whether it’s footage from their camera roll or an existing Sora creation. Each character can be tagged in future generations, complete with a display name, handle, and custom privacy settings that control who can use them. Users can keep cameos private, share them with followers, or make them public across the platform.
To kick things off, OpenAI is introducing themed starter characters, including Halloween options like Frankenstein, Dracula, and Witch.
The update also adds video stitching, which lets users merge multiple clips into a single, continuous video sequence — ideal for creating longer or narrative-style projects. Alongside this, OpenAI has launched community leaderboards showcasing the most remixed videos and most-used cameos on the platform.
To coincide with the update, OpenAI has temporarily lifted Sora’s invitation-only restriction, allowing users in the U.S., Canada, Japan, and Korea to sign up freely for a limited time. The app has also expanded to Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
The addition of character cameos hasn’t come without controversy, however — celebrity video platform Cameo recently filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against OpenAI, citing the feature’s name as a violation of its intellectual property.
The Sora app debuted just last month and quickly surpassed one million downloads — outpacing ChatGPT’s original launch despite its limited availability.
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