Sept 30 (Reuters) - OpenAI is releasing an AI

video-generating app called Sora that lets people create and

share AI videos that can be spun from copyrighted content and

shared to social media-like streams.

Copyright owners, such as television and movie studios, must

opt out of having their work appear in the video feed, company

officials said, describing it as a continuation of its prior

policy toward image generation.

The copyright policy is likely to ruffle feathers throughout

Hollywood.

The ChatGPT-maker has been in talks with a variety of

copyright holders in recent weeks to discuss the policy, company

officials said. At least one major studio, Disney, has already

opted out of having their material appear in the app, people

familiar with the matter said.

Earlier this year, OpenAI pressed the Trump administration to

declare that training AI models on copyrighted material fell

under the "fair use" provision in copyright law.

"Applying the fair use doctrine to AI is not only a matter of

American competitiveness - it's a matter of national security,"

OpenAI argued in March.

Without this step, it said at the time, U.S. AI companies would

lose their edge over rivals in China.

OpenAI officials said it put measures in place to block

people from creating videos of public figures or other users of

the app without permission. Public figures and others' likeness

cannot be used until they upload their own AI-generated video

and give their permission.

One such step is a "liveness check" where the app prompts a

user to move their head in different directions and recite a

random string of numbers. Users will be able to see drafts of

videos that involve their likeness.

Videos in the Sora app can be up to 10 seconds long. OpenAI

built a feature it calls Cameo that will let users create

realistic-looking AI versions of themselves and insert

themselves into AI-generated scenes.

"Our companies are in the business of competing for time and

modifying consumer behavior," Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak

said in a research note, adding he saw Sora app as a direct

competitor to longstanding social media and digital content

platforms from Meta, Google, TikTok and others.