"Invitation codes are harder to get than Spring Festival tickets!" — this is the real complaint from North American netizens about OpenAI's new product, Sora. On September 30, this AI video app, which claims to "shoot a blockbuster with just typing," was officially launched on the US and Canadian App Store. The result was that the server was overwhelmed on the first day. According to Appfigures statistics, Sora had 56,000 downloads on the iOS platform on the first day alone, immediately climbing to the third position on the overall chart, leaving predecessors like Claude and Copilot far behind.
Although it currently "hides half its face" — requiring an invitation code and only available for users in the US and Canada — its popularity has not decreased at all. In two days, it accumulated 164,000 installations, tying with Musk's Grok, and only needed one "full release" button to surpass ChatGPT's 81,000 "Day-one" record. More astonishingly, Sora climbed to the top three on the overall chart the day after its launch, while Claude only reached 78th place, and Microsoft Copilot only reached 19th — the gap is clearly visible.
Why can a "beta version" become so popular? The answer lies in the 15-second magic: input a sentence like "Cyber panda DJing," and the phone instantly outputs a 4K vertical MV, with automatically matched camera angles, lighting, and beats, even the panda DJ's earphone reflection is physically accurate. Netizens made a "pig eating bran" meme of the CEO, which was shared millions of times overnight, directly giving Sora free advertising. Internal employees criticized, "The company should solve big human problems," but secretly sent the invitation code to their girlfriends — after all, who can resist the joy of shooting a blockbuster for free?
OpenAI has not yet announced when it will be fully open, but it has already accelerated GPU expansion in the background. Industry insiders predict that once the invitation code is removed, Sora's daily downloads could exceed 300,000, bringing the video short industry into the era of "prompt directors" ahead of schedule. Now, one invitation code on the secondary market has been sold for $70, more expensive than AirPods — the Spring Festival rush in the tech circle has just begun.
Key points:
✨ First day: 56,000 downloads, two days: 164,000 installations. Sora, which is invite-only, beats all AI apps except ChatGPT.
🎭 One prompt generates a 4K blockbuster. Netizens make memes of the CEO and spread them millions of times, achieving social virality better than ads.
🚫 Limited to the US and Canada + invitation code. The black market has raised the price to $70. After full release, daily downloads may reach 300,000. The video short industry's livelihood is in danger!
