Lots of news in various livestreams. OpenAI wants to show you new AI highlights for 12 days.
This year, Christmas is also taking place at OpenAI. Today, December 5th, marks the start of the 12-day “Shipmas” event. During this time, new features, products, and demos will be presented daily.
One of the most exciting announcements is likely to be the long-awaited text-to-video AI Sora , which could revolutionize the creative market and internet videos.
What is “Shipmas”?
The term “Shipmas” is a portmanteau of the words “Christmas” and “shipment”. So they want to “ship” a new feature every day, or at least announce one.
CEO Sam Altman has recently confirmed the event at the DealBook Conference of the New York Times (via The Verge).
12 days.
12 livestreams.
A bunch of new things, big and small.12 Days of OpenAI starts tomorrow.
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) December 4, 2024
The highlights: Sora and a new reasoning model
Nothing has been officially announced yet, but two things are already considered certain in advance.
1. Sora: Text-to-Video AI
With Sora, users can convert text into videos. This opens up completely new possibilities for creatives, brands and content creators.
Alpha-Tests have been running throughout the year, with hundreds of artists trying out the AI. The results range from animated shorts to advertising clips.
There are already some text-to-video models like Runaway or more specific tools like Descript for video editing. However, Sora already showed at the announcement in February how high-quality and realistic the videos can look.
The release could have a major impact on the media world in the future. We may see exactly how this will work in a few days or weeks.
Not without criticism: Some artists have criticized OpenAI for allegedly using their work to develop Sora without their consent. They accuse the company of “unpaid research and PR”.
2. New Reasoning Model
Details are scarce so far, but OpenAI is planning an improved model for logical reasoning. This could be particularly useful for sophisticated applications, such as scientific analysis or decision support.
What else can you expect?
Given that OpenAI has twelve livestreams planned over the next 12 days, we expect there to be more than two exciting announcements, but OpenAI is keeping a low profile so far.
The employees and bosses at OpenAI certainly seem to be looking forward to the events and are already teasing on X.
openai is unbelievably back
— roon (@tszzl) December 3, 2024
So an employee writes that OpenAI is “incredibly back,” to which the senior vice president replies only “IYKYK.” This means something like “those in the know know.”
Of course, it’s possible that the hype is just a marketing ploy, but we certainly expect OpenAI to announce one or two major innovations in the next twelve days. We remain excited.
