Sora, an OpenAI video generator, lost one of its co-leads when they joined Google.
Tim Brooks, who co-led Sora's development with William Peebles, revealed in an X post that he will be joining Google DeepMind, the company's AI research branch, to focus on "world simulators" and video production technologies.
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Brooks wrote, "I had an amazing two years at OpenAI making Sora." "To all the kind and passionate people I worked with, thank you."
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis welcomed Brooks in a reply on X, saying that he’ll help to “make the long-standing dream of a world simulator a reality.” World simulator is a rather vague phrase — and poorly defined — but DeepMind has applied it to models like its recently released Genie, which can generate playable, action-controllable virtual worlds from synthesized images, real photos, and even sketches.
Here’s how DeepMind researchers explained it in a 2023 paper: “Applications of a real-world simulator range from controllable content creation in games and movies to training embodied agents purely in simulation that can be directly deployed in the real world.”
Brooks initiated the Sora project at OpenAI in January 2023, making him one of the early workers on the project. Brooks claims to have led the project's model training and research direction on his LinkedIn profile.
His resignation coincides with reports that Sora, an unreleased system, is experiencing technological difficulties that put it at a competitive disadvantage against rival systems from Luma, Runway, and other companies. The Information claims that the initial technology, which was unveiled in February, required almost 10 minutes of processing time to create a single minute of video. An enhanced Sora that may produce video rapidly is being trained by OpenAI, insiders tell The Information.