Video, Shopping, Ads: OpenAI Undergoes Massive Restructuring in Search of Focus
OMR Team12/31/2025
The AI pioneer pivots toward enterprise business and advertising while killing off high-profile consumer projects
Table of contents
- Collapsing Partnerships
- A Shift in E-Commerce Strategy
- Focus on Merchants and Integration
- Expansion into the Ad Business
It has been a wild week for OpenAI: The biggest shock was certainly the news that the company is discontinuing the video generation app Sora. The reasons behind this move are reportedly high operating costs and OpenAI's efforts to sharpen its focus, particularly on the enterprise sector. At this point, it is unclear whether OpenAI will offer any form of access to the model in the future. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sam Altman announced in a memo to staff that OpenAI will shut down all products using the video model. In addition to the app, this also includes an API version for developers. While it was recently reported that OpenAI intended to integrate Sora into ChatGPT, those plans are now apparently void. OpenAI told the New York Times that it still intends to use the video model internally for robot training.
Collapsing Partnerships
Due to the cancellation of Sora, the deal between OpenAI and Disney has also fallen through. Only a little over three months ago, both companies announced that Disney would invest one billion US dollars in OpenAI. In exchange, OpenAI was to allow Sora users to generate videos featuring famous characters from the Disney universe. The announcement of Sora's discontinuation reportedly came as a major surprise to Disney.
A Shift in E-Commerce Strategy
Furthermore, OpenAI has redesigned its product search to offer "richer and more visually immersive shopping experiences" powered by the "Agentic Commerce Protocol." This reflects another strategic pivot: a few weeks ago, OpenAI scrapped plans to handle checkouts directly within ChatGPT. The solution was reportedly immature and recorded very poor conversion rates, a move that once again frustrated partners like PayPal.
Focus on Merchants and Integration
Now, OpenAI apparently wants to place a stronger focus on merchants, where the final purchase is intended to take place—partially within dedicated "apps" that merchants can offer inside ChatGPT, triggered by relevant queries. According to a study by the GEO tool Profound, Walmart and Target appear particularly frequently in shopping results in the USA.
Expansion into the Ad Business
In addition, OpenAI has hired David Dugan, a former leading Meta executive, as "Head of Global Ads Solutions." As an OpenAI spokesperson told The Information, the company's advertising revenue has exceeded an annualized rate of 100 million US dollars. OpenAI is now reportedly planning the launch of a self-service booking tool. Just days earlier, The Information had reported that OpenAI's entry into the advertising business was off to a rocky start: advertisers were receiving little data on ad performance, and in some cases, not enough ads were being served to exhaust the budgets set by customers.