Sora, AI Bicycles, and Meta Disruption

In this episode of the podcast, Ben Thompson reflects on his initial misjudgment of OpenAI's Sora app and its unexpected popularity compared to Meta's AI video app, Vibes. He discusses how Sora's success lies in its ability to empower users to become creators, drawing parallels to the impact of Instagram and TikTok. Thompson analyzes the evolution of social networks, highlighting Instagram's shift away from a focus on friends and the potential for Sora to disrupt this trend by restoring value to social connections through AI-enabled creativity. He also raises concerns about Meta's ability to compete with AI-generated content and questions the long-term appeal of Meta's vision for the metaverse, suggesting that OpenAI's approach of placing creative tools directly in users' hands may be more impactful.