OpenAI’s Sora 2 Pulls MLK Imagery After Backlash From Estate and Public

The generative artificial intelligence app Sora 2 will no longer allow users to create images or videos depicting civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and other historical figures, following backlash from the public and King’s estate over offensive AI-generated clips circulating online, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In a joint statement, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. said:

“The Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. (King, Inc.) and OpenAI have worked together to address how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s likeness is represented in Sora generations. Some users generated disrespectful depictions of Dr. King’s image. So at King, Inc.'s request, OpenAI has paused generations depicting Dr. King as it strengthens guardrails for historical figures.”

Open AI acknowledged that despite the “free speech interests in depicting historical figures…public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used,” and noted that representatives and estate owners can ask that they not appear in Sora cameos.

Sora 2, which launched at the end of September, quickly became one of the most downloaded AI tools, allowing users to create hyper-realistic videos of virtually anything, including uncanny recreations of deceased celebrities like Michael Jackson and 2Pac.

Dr. Bernice King, MLK’s daughter, recently joined the growing chorus of voices urging restraint around AI use of late public figures’ likenesses. 

Responding to Zelda Williams, the daughter of Robin Williams, who wrote, “Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad,” King tweeted, “I concur concerning my father."