OpenAI has recently introduced a new generative AI model called Sora, capable of generating videos of up to one minute based on a text prompt. The organization will complete safety measures before making it accessible to the public, but Sora’s impending arrival promises to be a game-changer in content creation and marketing operations, offering unprecedented speed and efficiency to B2B marketers.
Emile Kronfli, Creative Director, KT2 and Content Director, Wildfire, highlights the potential impact for content creators. Additionally, David Borish, Entrepreneur and Chief Technology Strategist, AI, PLSAR, shares his viewpoint on the technological advancements poised to reshape the marketing landscape.
David said the announcement took even those working in the tech industry by surprise: “anybody who’s a known expert in the AI space didn’t expect that to come out so soon. Based on training data, I was thinking this type of product would be ready by the end of the year. That kind of threw everybody. I’ve been pitching this AI creative Studio concept with a very well known Creative Director and there wasn’t much enthusiasm. Then Sora comes out and it’s a good idea. And then the Tyler Perry news comes out, and now it’s a great idea.”
Tyler Perry, a renowned figure in Hollywood, has declared a halt to the $800 million expansion of his Atlanta studio indefinitely, due to “mind-blowing” advancements in artificial technologies, particularly Sora.
Navigating the boundaries of virtual worlds
What would be the scope of content creation with Sora? OpenAI has released a few video clips created with Sora, some replicate real-life scenarios while others create fantasy-led virtual worlds. Emile says that while Sora opens up many possibilities, certain limitations will exist due to AI self-regulation:
“I wouldn’t say anything goes, not just yet. If we think about DALL·E’s current image generation policies, we won’t be able to create videos of real people. We probably won’t be able to create the same character in multiple clips because of the way that AI image, and soon to be video generation, kind of happens. It’s based on random algorithms and it would probably be very difficult to do and quite inconsistent. They may be wearing a red hat in one scene and then a blue hat in another, for example.”
Sora’s impact on efficiency, costs and global reach
Emile underlines the potential for Sora in B2B marketing, particularly in crafting impactful and innovative content. The discussion revolves around the evolution of marketing formats, drawing parallels with the emergence of terms like ‘selfie’ that didn’t even exist a few years ago.
One of the standout advantages of Sora lies in its ability to drastically reduce the time and resources invested in content creation. David emphasizes that Sora enables marketers to execute campaigns far more quickly than ever before:
“The difference here is that the marketer comes up with a campaign, a storyboard or whatever they want, and maybe after a few iterations, they have it. Something that would take a whole day of shooting, maybe a whole day of editing or half a day of editing, and half a day for everything else, and now you do it in a couple of hours.”
This newfound efficiency is a potential cost-saver for businesses, allowing them to achieve more with less. With Sora, the intricate tasks of shooting, editing, and adding elements like captions and sound are streamlined, making it a powerful tool for marketers looking to optimize their processes.
Global expansion and customization
The integration of Sora with tools like ElevenLabs opens up exciting possibilities for global market expansion. ElevenLabs is a software enterprise specializing in the creation of lifelike speech synthesis and text-to-speech software, leveraging AI and deep learning.
Instant translations into multiple languages and the ability to customize content for diverse audiences give B2B marketers the means to explore previously untapped markets. The combination of Sora and translation tools is poised to make marketing truly borderless, allowing companies to tailor their messages for maximum impact across cultures and languages.
Potential copyright and legal challenges
Anticipating the entry of Sora into the B2B marketing arena, there are potential copyright challenges. OpenAI has already been subject to multiple copyright lawsuits from writers and the New York Times.
Elon Musk has initiated the latest legal action against OpenAI, alleging the organization has violated the principles established when he co-founded it in 2015. Musk contends that instead of pursuing its original goal of “benefiting humanity,” the organization has shifted its focus towards “maximizing profits,” particularly for its significant investor, Microsoft.
David says it’s worth considering potential challenges. Legal considerations, such as copyright issues and lawsuits, may arise. Emile also acknowledges this, but emphasizes that AI generation is based on original, randomly created content, with self-regulation playing a pivotal role in navigating legal challenges.
Staying ahead of the curve
Addressing concerns about Sora potentially downsizing marketing teams, Emile acknowledges the possibility of more work being accomplished with fewer people. Yet, he stresses the importance of specialization and adaptation to avoid becoming obsolete in the ever-evolving landscape.
“Marketers no longer have to spend some minutes or hours searching for a particular type of clip. They might be able to just generate a clip that ticks a particular box for them. So they might save some time in that respect. They save some money as well, but you still need the people that know what they’re doing to create marketing material. Yes, Sora will influence the industry, but only through efficiency in my opinion.”
Sora’s contribution to content creation cannot be overstated. The ‘democratization of creativity’, as David describes it, means that the success of a marketing campaign will increasingly depend on the creative teams’ ability to leverage AI tools effectively. Sora provides the canvas; it’s up to marketers to paint the masterpiece:
“What I love about AI is that it will democratize creativity, because anybody will have access to it. It’s probably going to ruin filmmaking and a few creative studios that do B2B marketing now and charge a lot of money. It’s going to just be based on who can come up with the most creative campaign, and then take all these tools and do something really innovative.”
Looking ahead
Emile says B2B marketers should embrace experimentation with Sora upon its widespread availability. Drawing parallels with the regular use of DALL·E, he suggests gaining a strategic advantage by understanding the intricate relationship between inputs and outputs in the creative process:
“Start experimenting with it when it’s made available. But in the meantime, you can get a head start by regularly using DALL·E because there will be similarities in the way that inputs relate to outputs. Content creators, and marketers in general, need to become experts in using prompts. It’s like learning another language, right? We need to rewire our brains to connect prompts to a desired output, in the same way our brains have now been rewired to search for something on Google. Now it’s kind of second nature.”
Emile sees the efficiency of content creation reaching unprecedented heights, but poses a thought-provoking question on whether the abundance of video content might eventually desensitize audiences.
Emerging creative trends
While Sora is currently at the forefront of this technological revolution, David points out that other companies like Pika Labs and Runway ML are strong competitors:
“There are other companies like Pika Labs, Runway ML… And they’re all in a race to get to Sora. But what’s interesting is they’re out already, Sora is not. So one of them may end up beating Sora. Sora might not be the one; if it takes too long to come out with a commercial release, then it may be someone else. Although Sora is the first one that blew everybody away, they should keep an eye out for some of these other AI video platforms, because they’re all going to get to that point.”
The potential impact on B2B marketing is immense, as these platforms strive to offer similar benefits in terms of efficiency and creativity. The market, therefore, may witness a proliferation of platforms, each vying for a share of the rapidly evolving space.
