OpenAI Should Stop Naming Its Creations After Products That Already Exist

In September, OpenAI launched a way for users to generate a digital likeness of themselves they could use to create personalized deepfake videos. This is one of the core features in Sora, OpenAI’s app for sharing AI videos inside a TikTok-style feed. The self-deepfaking feature was called “cameo,” and with that standout feature, Sora quickly rose to the top of Apple’s iOS download charts.

This feature name led to a trademark lawsuit with Cameo, the app where fans can pay celebrities to record personalized videos. Now, because of the legal action, OpenAI has temporarily scrubbed the “cameo” branding from its Sora app. The app now refers to the feature as “characters.”

Creative originality is not achievable by generative AI, which is built on finding patterns in large datasets, and OpenAI seems to be matching this derivative vibe with its naming schemas. In addition to being told to remove ...