Is Sora Safe? A Sora App Review for Parents

Harmful Content 😲

The content on Sora ranges from mindlessly silly (“brain rot”) to inappropriate or unsettling. Sora claims it does not allow sexually explicit or violent content. But as we know, no app has a perfect moderation or filter system. 

Even if there is no explicitly dangerous content, there could still be a lot of harm done in user-generated videos. Someone could take advantage of these AI tools to bully or embarrass someone by creating a humiliating video of them. Someone could use it to spread false information about news stories or advice from “experts” in a particular field. 

Remember, these videos are intended to look as realistic as possible. Of course, today’s deepfakes still have some giveaways that tell viewers it’s AI. But sometimes they’re convincing enough to have significant consequences, and the technology is only going to get better and more deceiving from here. Kids should know it’s dangerous when the lines between what’s real and what’s not get too blurred.

Predation 🚨

Sora is just like any social media platform, with likes, comments, and private messaging. It’s the private messaging feature that immediately makes Sora a high-risk space for predation. Predators can easily find and start grooming kids, all without leaving the app. Not to mention the access the predator could have to your child’s likeness, which could be used nefariously. 

Privacy 🔒

Let’s talk more about one of the most harmful parts of Sora, which is the Cameo feature. Here is a deeper dive into how Cameo works on Sora: 

• A Cameo is created when a user uploads a video of themselves to capture their likeness and voice. 
• Once a Cameo is uploaded, the user can either allow or restrict their Cameo from being used by other Sora users.
• If allowed, anyone on Sora can use the Cameo in their own video creations. 
• The user will be able to view and delete any video created with their Cameo. 

The privacy concerns here are obvious. If your child’s voice and likeness are on Sora, it can now be seen by strangers, taken out of context, and easily manipulated. Additionally, it does not appear that Sora gives users the option to make their profile private at this time. 

If users do not upload a cameo and keep their name and any personal information off their profile, then it’s possible to have a decently private experience on Sora. But realistically, many kids are drawn to Sora specifically to create and share silly videos of themselves, not just to scroll anonymously.

Parental Controls ✅

As mentioned, Sora comes from the same parent company as ChatGPT, OpenAI. OpenAI recently launched parental controls through ChatGPT, which include controls for Sora. This means that, in order to use Sora parental controls, your child first needs to have a teen ChatGPT account that is linked to your account. The issue is that having a ChatGPT account isn’t required to use Sora. 

Additionally, even if you and your teen have linked your ChatGPT accounts, the teen has the option to unlink the accounts at any time. But assuming that you successfully link your accounts and your child doesn’t unlink them, these are the available controls for Sora:

• Personalized feed: Parents can opt their child out of a personalized feed.
• Continuous feed: Parents can control whether their child has an uninterrupted feed of content while scrolling.
• Messaging: Parents can turn off the ability for their teen to send and receive direct messages.

As an added layer of protection, you can use Bark to help keep your kid safe on Sora. With Bark, parents can: 

• Block Sora entirely, if needed.
• Manage when your child can use Sora throughout the day.

So, should my kid download it?

We do not suggest this app for kids and tweens. The App Store sets this app as 12+, but we feel this is better suited to older teens, around 15 and up. If you do allow your child to use this app, consider testing it out with them, having frequent discussions about the risks with AI, and utilizing all available parental controls.