Sora generated a creepy version of Pokimane & lawyers say there could be a big issue

OpenAI’s Sora launched on December 9, and legal experts are already sounding off after it managed to create uncanny copies of Twitch streamers Auronplay and Pokimane.

The age of AI is upon us — but some of its creations are more disturbing than others.

With the launch of Sora in early December, enthusiasts have already used the tool to generate tons of content, asking the AI to whip up a first-person shooter, a Mario-like platformer, and more.

Sora also knows how to recreate Twitch streams, as TechCrunch discovered during its own investigation of the tool, which offered up a startlingly accurate version of Auronplay talking to his chat, right down to his tattoos.

Sora’s version of Pokimane draws Smile 2 comparisons

It also spawned a copy of Pokimane, which some likened to the trauma demon from Smile. While Sora clearly took some liberties in its recreation of the streamer, this particular photo has been labeled as off-putting and uncanny by many.

This could pose a potential problem for OpenAI, with copyright attorney Evan Everist at Dorsey & Whitney telling TechCrunch that Sora may have crossed some legal boundaries.

“Videos of playthroughs involve at least two layers of copyright protection: the contents of the game as owned by the game developer, and the unique video created by the player or videographer capturing the player’s experience,” Everist said.

“And for some games, there’s a potential third layer of rights in the form of user-generated content appearing in software.

“Should courts find copyright liability for training AI models, each of these copyright holders would be potential plaintiffs or licensing sources. For any developers training AI on such videos, the risk exposure is exponential.”

Poki herself has commented on AI during her broadcasts, saying in a January 2023 stream: “What if someday we have streamers that evolve from chat GPT?”

“It’s kind of scary to be honest but it had me think, you can basically have a conversation with this thing. …I do feel like if they make one right now it’s probably not that advanced, but someday it’ll be very advanced and very scary.”