Chinese firm wants to be the first using the Sora AI text to video API

OpenAI has unveiled Sora AI, a new text-to-video LLM, and although it’s in early development, according to SCMP, a Chinese tech company called Sinodata claims that a deal with Microsoft will grant them priority access to the new model when it is available on Azure.

Moreover, the Beijing-based findata company said it already held a business seminar with Microsoft China on the potential application of Sora AI.

The Chinese joined Microsoft’s AI Cloud Partner Program and recently signed a deal with the Redmond giant to become their partner for data and AI.

Sinodata specializes in generative AI, Web3, and the digital yuan, and it provides enterprise services, including banking and data centre solutions, so it’s a good match for Microsoft’s solutions. After breaking the news with the Microsoft partnership, their shares rose 10% before the trading was suspended.

Why are Chinese interested in Sora AI?

Chinese tech firms have invested heavily in AI and, especially in text-to-video models. According to the SCMP article, another Chinese company called ByteDance have released a text to video LLM: MagicVideo-V2.

There is also another text-to-video model from ModelScope coming from the Chinese firm Damo Vision Intelligence Lab, owned by Alibaba Group Holding, but its video output is limited to two seconds.

Ultimately, a powerful reason for the Sinodata deal with Microsoft is that OpenAI doesn’t release its services in China, due to US sanctioning. However, Microsoft’s Copilot, which is based on the OpenAI model is available in Hong Kong through its products.

An unexpected usage scenario comes from the Chinese company Zhejiang Enjoyor Electronics, a construction service provider. They want to use text-to-video generation tools to assess traffic accident situations by reproducing potential incidents.

Sora AI and text-to-video tools definitely have great potential in many areas, but we still think that its most important impact will be on the advertising industry.

What do you think about the new Microsoft deal and Sora AI? Let us know in the comments section below.