Unlock new dimensions of creativity: Gpt-image-1 and Sora

We're excited to announce Sora, now available in AI Foundry. Learn more about Sora in Azure OpenAI, and its API and video playground, here. To dive deeper into video playground experience, check out this blog post ​ 

Why does this matter? 

AI is no longer *just* about text. Here’s why: multimodal models enable deeper understanding. Today AI doesn’t just understand words: it understands context, visuals, and motion. From prompt to product, imagine going from a product description to a full marketing campaign.  In many ways, the rise of multimodal AI today is comparable to the inception of photography in the 19^th century—introducing a new creative medium that, like photography, didn’t replace painting but expanded the boundaries of artistic expression.

Just a little over a month ago, we released OpenAI's GPT-image-1, and now we’re thrilled to announce Sora, available in public preview in AI Foundry. These models are designed to unlock creativity, accelerate content creation, and empower entire industries. Video in particular has remained the most complex and underdeveloped modality. Teams across industries from marketing to education are bottlenecked by the cost, time, and tools required to create high fidelity video content. What makes these models especially powerful on Azure is the enterprise-grade foundation they run on. Customers get the benefit of first-party infrastructure, network security, identity, billing, and governance—all in one place. That’s huge when you're deploying generative AI at scale. Both models are API-first, meaning they can be deeply integrated into workflows, apps, or customer-facing tools. And for teams looking to explore before they build, we offer an intuitive Image Playground and Video Playground to experiment with different models side by side: in iterative workflows like video generation, go from experimentation to production seamlessly. 

Of course, it’s not just about capabilities—it’s also about responsibility. These models are designed with safety and provenance in mind, including features like C2PA integration and abuse monitoring, so enterprises can innovate with confidence.

Automate pipelines and scale production workflows 

Sora in Azure OpenAI is uniquely available as an API-so creative teams can build it directly in their tool.  Currently Sora supports text-to-video, with image-to-video coming soon, up to 20s in duration, 1080p resolution, and landscape/portrait/square aspect ratios. This level of integration is especially valuable for customers like WPP, where the inability to easily show early concepts and scale big ideas through production in video has long been a creative and operational bottleneck. Through the Sora API, customers can collaborate more effectively with clients by delivering personalized, scalable solutions. The Sora API in particular is great for asynchronous tasks. 

"API access integrates and speeds up my workflow in a way that other services just couldn't. It just makes my life so much easier”  - WPP

Want to see this in action? Check out our visionary lab  using both gpt-image-1 and sora, tailored to industry use cases 

Go from experimentation to production with video playground 

With built in features such as port to VS Code, customers can seamlessly go from experimentation to production:

• Iterate faster: Experiment with text prompts and adjust generation controls like aspect ratio, resolution and duration
• Optimize prompts: Re-write prompt syntax with AI and visually compare outcomes across variations using prebuilt industry prompts 
• API based interface: What works in video playground translates directly into code, with predictability 

Industry Use Cases

Sora 

🌱 Sustainability	Environmental Campaign Videos: Generate compelling short-form content to raise awareness around climate action, recycling, or conservation. Product Sustainability Stories: Visualize supply chain journeys or carbon offset initiatives to showcase brand responsibility.
📚 Education	Interactive Learning Content: Generate visual aids for K-12 or higher ed topics like science (e.g protein creation), or language learning. Corporate Training: Produce bite-sized videos for onboarding, compliance, or skill development.
✈️ Travel & Lifestyle	Destination Marketing: Generate stunning visuals of destinations to attract visitors Experience Sharing: Create cinematic recaps of trips or aspirational journeys

GPT-image-1

🎮 Gaming	Concept Art & World Design: Instantly generate immersive environments, characters, and assets from simple prompts—ideal for prototyping and speeding up creative workflows. In-game UI Mockups: Use GPT-Image-1 to visualize interfaces and inventory screens without manual design.
📢 Advertising & Marketing	Ad Storyboarding: Generate compelling image or video ad drafts for client pitches or social media A/B testing. Localization at Scale: Tailor visuals and videos to different regions or audiences while keeping brand consistency. Campaign Automation: Go from a product name or brief to full creative assets—banners, thumbnails, short video clips.
🛒 E-commerce	Product Showcases: Create studio-quality product images in various styles and settings, including on-model shots or lifestyle scenes. Seasonal Promotions: Refresh visuals for holidays or trends instantly without reshoots or manual editing.

Explore how you can integrate these powerful tools into your operations and start transforming your business today

Call to Action

• Get started with Sora and build your own application 
• Learn more about Sora and capabilities 
• Deploy Sora today
• Learn more about Multimodal AI in AI Foundry and revisit BUILD session  
• Deploy GPT-image-1 today
• Learn more about GPT-image-1's API