OpenAI halts AI videos of Martin Luther King Jr. after offensive clips

OpenAI has paused the ability to create videos of Martin Luther King Jr. in Sora, the company's service for AI-generated videos. The announcement came around October 16-17, 2025.

The pause follows a request from King, Inc., which manages the civil rights leader's legacy. The reason is that some users had made disparaging depictions of him. According to Engadget, examples included videos in which King makes monkey noises during the "I Have a Dream" speech and in which he fights Malcolm X. TechCrunch reports that the Washington Post has reported on similar videos.

Joint statement

A joint statement from OpenAI and the King estate says that some users have created disparaging depictions of Dr. King's image. At King, Inc.'s request, OpenAI has therefore paused generation of videos of him while the company strengthens safeguards for historical figures.

The pause appears to be temporary, but there is no fixed timeline for when it will end.

King's daughter, Bernice King, asked people to stop sending her AI videos of her father. She wrote this in a social media post. The sources disagree about which service it was, citing both Instagram and Threads.

According to Engadget, Malcolm X's daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz, has also criticized the development in a statement to the Washington Post. She questioned why AI developers do not act with the same morality, conscience and care that they would want for their own families.

More people can opt out

OpenAI has introduced a process in which authorized representatives or estate owners can request that a person's likeness not be used in Sora videos, known as cameos. According to OpenAI, there are strong free speech interests in allowing depictions of historical figures. But public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used.

TechCrunch reports that Sora also contains crude depictions of other deceased people, including Bob Ross, Whitney Houston and JFK.

According to TheWrap, Sora 2 was launched without strict copyright protections. That made it possible to create inappropriate content featuring protected characters and public figures. Warner Bros. Discovery has notified OpenAI about the use of its content, and Disney has sent a letter demanding that Disney's content be excluded from Sora. The Motion Picture Association has demanded swift and decisive action.