OpenAI's Sora Leaked: What OpenAI Didn’t Want You to See

Welcome, AI entrepreneur & enthusiasts.

The public just got its first taste of OpenAI’s secretive Sora video model… but a leak from disgruntled artists likely wasn’t the rollout the AI leader hoped for.

As unauthorized demos spread across social media, is Sora still the game-changing leap we expected — or have rival firms already caught up? Let’s get into it…

In today’s AI news:

• OpenAI’s Sora Video Model Leaked
• Ex-Android Leaders Launch AI Agent OS Startup
• Zoom Goes All In On AI With New Rebrand
• Inflection AI Pivots To Enterprise AI Solutions
• More AI & tech news

OpenAI’s Sora video model leaked

The News: A protest group called "Sora PR Puppets" leaked access to OpenAI's unreleased Sora video model on Hugging Face, revealing new improvements and sparking controversy over the company's early access program.

The details:

• The protest group claims OpenAI recruited hundreds of artists for unpaid testing while maintaining strict control over all generated content and sharing.
• The temporary Hugging Face implementation survived for several hours before being shut down, with users seeing OpenAI's watermark on generated clips.
• The leaked system generated 1080p 10-second clips faster than the reported 10-minute render times.
• OpenAI has reportedly been training a new version of Sora to address long render times, with rumored features like in-painting and image generation.

Why it matters: While competitors race to ship AI video tools, Sora has remained behind closed doors — making this a dramatic first look at OpenAI's progress. The capabilities seem impressive but do not leap ahead of the competition, and this leak may expose some underlying tension with the creatives they depend on for testing.

Ex-Android leaders launch AI agent OS startup

The News: A team of former Google, Meta, and Stripe executives just emerged from stealth mode to launch a new startup called /dev/agents with $56M in seed funding, aiming to create what they're calling an "Android moment" for AI agents.

The details:

• The startup plans to build a cloud-based operating system that allows AI agents to run seamlessly on phones, laptops, cars, and other devices.
• The founding team includes Android's former VP of Engineering David Singleton, Oculus VP Hugo Barra, and Chrome OS design lead Nicholas Jitkoff.
• The company hopes to tackle major barriers in AI agent development, including new UI patterns, privacy models, and simplified developer tools.
• Index Ventures and Alphabet’s funding arm led the raise, with other investors including OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy and Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang.

Why it matters: While everyone races to build AI agents, few aim to crack the foundation they'll run on. With a powerhouse Android team that helped accelerate mobile apps, /dev/agents could help lay the groundwork for how we'll all interact with AI in the future — with specialized agents as plentiful as the apps on our phones.

Zoom goes all in on AI with new rebrand

The News: Zoom just announced a rebrand from 'Zoom Video Communications’ to ‘Zoom Communications’, aiming to move away from the company’s video conferencing roots and position itself as an AI-first workplace platform.

The details:

• Zoom ‘2.0’ features the tagline the “AI-first work platform for human connection,” prioritizing AI-first tools to work “happier, smarter, and faster.”
• Zoom said its AI Companion will be the “heartbeat” of the push, with expanded context, web access, and the ability to take agentic actions across the platform.
• The rebrand follows recent launches, including the AI Companion 2.0, Zoom Docs, and other AI workplace tools aimed at competing with other tech giants.
• CEO Eric Yuan reiterated his vision to create fully customizable AI digital twins, which he believes will shorten work schedules to just four days a week.

Why it matters: The company that defined remote work during the pandemic is now betting on AI to redefine its future. While a name change may seem symbolic, Zoom's aggressive push into AI is a move many other companies might copy soon as the tech becomes ingrained into every aspect of our lives.

Inflection AI Pivots to Enterprise AI Solutions

The News: Inflection AI has announced a strategic pivot away from building next-generation AI models to focusing on providing enterprise solutions, leveraging existing AI models and recent acquisitions to strengthen its offerings.

The Details:

• Inflection AI’s former CEO, Mustafa Suleyman, left to join Microsoft, which also acquired much of Inflection’s staff and technology for $650 million.
• Under new CEO Sean White, the company has moved away from competing with AI labs like OpenAI and Google in building frontier AI models, instead targeting enterprise customers.
• Inflection has acquired three startups in the last two months: Jelled.AI (AI for email management), BoostKPI (AI data analytics), and Boundaryless (automation consulting).
• A key differentiator for Inflection is its ability to run AI solutions on-premise, appealing to enterprises prioritizing data security over cloud-based alternatives.

Why It Matters: Inflection AI’s pivot highlights a growing trend where mid-sized AI startups are focusing on specific, scalable use cases rather than competing in the high-cost race to build frontier models. By concentrating on enterprise needs and acquiring niche startups, Inflection is positioning itself as a practical, accessible AI partner for businesses. This move underscores the shifting landscape of AI, where differentiation often lies in application and usability rather than cutting-edge breakthroughs alone.

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