How to Limit Who Can Make Deepfakes of You on Sora

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Sora, OpenAI's TikTok for AI slop, is currently the number one free app on the iOS App Store. The app makes it possible for users to generate hyper-realistic short-form videos from simple AI prompts. If you find your TikTok or Instagram feeds to feature a few too many posts made by humans, Sora offers you a feed devoid of any manmade content: Everything you see, from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman roasting a Pikachu on the grill, to speeches from Martin Luther King Jr. about Xbox Game Pass, is entirely fabricated and generated by the Sora video model. As the kids say, we are so cooked.

The implications are distressing, terrifying, and, to this tech editor, nauseating. But it's not just the fact that these videos are lifelike that's setting off my anxieties; it's also the app's "cameo" feature, which lets you insert real people into one of these AI concoctions. If you request a video of someone skateboarding across a skyscraper, for example, Sora doesn't have to generate a fake person. Instead, you can ask it to put yourself in the video. If your friends are on the platform, you can instead choose to cast one of them as the skateboarder, too. The same goes for any account that has made their cameo settings public, which is how we got so many unhinged videos of Altman and other OpenAI execs.

OpenAI is pitching Cameos as a fun way to communicate and share with friends. I, and others like me, see it as a deepfake machine, with the potential to generate videos of anyone doing just about anything. OpenAI would disagree, of course. The company promises it has "guardrails" in place designed to prevent generations that are harmful or offensive, as well as the misuse of other people's likenesses. In order to set up a cameo, you need to take a video of yourself while speaking, which gives the video model the information needed to plop you into these short clips. Ideally, you are in control of your cameos: If you don't want other people generating videos of you, you can choose to block them from being made. If you don't like a video someone made with your cameo, you can request that OpenAI delete it from Sora—even if you didn't make the video yourself.

Despite OpenAI's assurances, I'm not convinced this won't get ugly fast. Still, it's worth it to go over the settings you can adjust to control how your likeness is used (or not used) on Sora.

Block other Sora users from putting you in cameos

These settings only apply once you set up your cameo. If you simply use the app to watch videos, there are no settings for you to adjust. However, if you have made a cameo, you can use a few control to limit how it is used.

To find your cameo settings, open Sora, tap your profile icon in the bottom right, then tap the two-lined menu button in the top right and choose "Cameo rules." Here, you can adjust who can use your cameo from the following options:

• Only me: No other Sora users can use your cameo.

• People I approve: Choose specific Sora users that can use your cameo.

• Mutuals: Anyone you follow who follows you back can use your cameo.

• Everyone: Anyone on the platform can use your cameo. (I strongly recommend you do not use this option.)

Note that changing these settings will only apply to videos going forward. If you originally allowed mutuals or all users to use your cameo, but you drop down to people you approve, or even just yourself, all previous videos made with your cameo will remain on the platform.

You also have some granular control over how your cameos are used, as Bill Peebles, head of Sora, announced on X. If you head back to your cameo settings, choose "Cameo preferences" then "Restrictions." Here, you should have the option to enter any restriction you want, which will block others from including those restrictions when using your cameo. For example, you could block people from putting you in political videos, or from saying specific words or phrases.

Delete other people's videos that use your cameo

If you see a video that someone made using your cameo and you don't want it on the platform anymore, you can ask OpenAI to delete it. To do so, open the video, then choose "Report." Here, you can request a takedown. OpenAI says it will "review and take action" if the video uses your cameo "against your settings or rules." That's a little too vague for my liking, but it's good to know this system is in place if you find yourself in this position.

Delete your Sora account to nuke all videos using your cameo

There is a nuclear option as well: delete your Sora account altogether. OpenAI says that any videos that use a cameo attached to a deleted account will also be removed from the platform. They're much more specific with the language here, so I'd imagine this is the best way to guarantee your cameos are not floating around Sora in ways you don't want them to.

There are still a lot of potential risks

It's great that OpenAI is giving users controls who can use their likeness in Sora videos, but, in my view, it's just not enough. OpenAI created a tool that lets other users seamlessly place you into AI-generated videos. The risk for misuse is simply too great to think of this product as anything other than a deepfake disaster waiting to happen.

OpenAI says you can request to delete any video that uses your cameo, but what if OpenAI doesn't think the video violates your rules or settings? More concerningly, what happens when someone takes that video off Sora and publishes it on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube instead? Is OpenAI going to track down every company that is hosting the video and demand they delete it? Or could your face, your voice, your entire likeness, be plastered across social media, in a video that isn't even real? OpenAI requires you to record yourself before creating a cameo, but what if someone figures out how to use existing videos of you to create an illegitimate cameo without your permission? All the cameo restrictions and settings in the world won't let you control what happens with those videos. And while OpenAI considers their initial approach to Sora generations "conservative," I've seen some wild stuff on this platform already. If you think users won't find ways to trick the AI into generating videos of you that are offensive, disgusting, or otherwise negative, think again.

I don't know where we're going from here, but I know one thing: I'll never use the cameo feature on Sora, and I'd encourage you to do the same. If you already have, restrict your settings as much as you're willing to.

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