SORA, a new service from OpenAI that produces one-minute videos in response to a textual prompt, is not yet available to the public. But the videos it has released are striking for their vividness, their detail and, if this is the correct term for an artificial intelligence (AI), their imagination.

It is worth considering the future economic consequences of this development.

First, Sora is unlikely to put Hollywood out of business. Eventually these videos will get much longer, but it remains to be seen how well AI can construct long story arcs and integrate them with images into a commercially appealing package. That still seems a long way off, and cost is an additional consideration.