OpenAI now sells extra Sora credits for $4, plans to reduce free gens in the future (www.engadget.com)

OpenAI has begun selling extra generation credits for Sora, its text-to-video tool: power users can buy 10 additional video generations for $4. The service currently allows 30 free generations per day, but Bill Peebles, head of Sora, warned that free allocations will likely be cut as demand and GPU constraints grow. Peebles said OpenAI will be transparent about reductions as they happen and is already moving toward monetization features beyond pay-per-gen. The shift matters because it signals Sora moving from an experimental demo toward a commercial product with supply-side limits driven by expensive inference infrastructure (GPU capacity) and new revenue streams. Technically, OpenAI is proposing a rights-management model that would let rightsholders license appearances of copyrighted artwork, characters, or likenesses—allowing creators or IP owners to charge for “cameos” during generation. That approach could reshape content-creation economics and access control but raises legal and ethical questions, especially given an ongoing trademark lawsuit from Cameo. For developers, researchers and creators, the change means rethinking cost, scaling and compliance when integrating or experimenting with high-fidelity video generation.