OpenAI Blocks Sora’s Ability to Generate Martin Luther King Jr. Videos at Family’s Request Following ‘Disrespectful Depictions’ of Civil Rights Leader

Artificial-intelligence powerhouse OpenAI has “paused” the ability of its Sora AI video system to create user-prompted videos of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the request of the civil rights leader’s estate. The company said the decision came after some Sora users “generated disrespectful depictions of Dr. King’s image.”

In a statement posted on OpenAI’s X account, which said it was jointly from OpenAI and “King Estate, Inc.,” the AI company said it worked with MLK’s estate “to address how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s likeness is represented in Sora generations.” At the request of King Inc., “OpenAI has paused generations depicting Dr. King as it strengthens guardrails for historical figures.”

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“While there are strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures, OpenAI believes public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used,” the statement said. “Authorized representatives or estate owners can request that their likeness not be used in Sora cameos.”

OpenAI earlier this month released Sora 2, which can generate stunningly realistic-looking videos. Hollywood has objected to the AI company’s rollout of the system: The MPA, for one, called on OpenAI to take “immediate action” to fix its copyright opt-out system so that OpenAI is responsible for policing copyright infringement.

In its statement Thursday, OpenAI thanked Dr. Bernice A. King, CEO of the King Center and the youngest child of MLK, “for reaching out on behalf of King, Inc., and John Hope Bryant and the AI Ethics Council for creating space for conversations like this.”

Established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King, the Atlanta-based Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (known as the King Center) non-profit organization has been “a global destination, resource center and community institution for over a quarter century.” Nearly 1 million people annually “make pilgrimage to the National Historic Site to learn, be inspired and pay their respects to Dr. King’s legacy,” according to the King Center.

Pictured above: Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery, Alabama, in May 1961