Sora and AI Video: Impressive Demo, But Here's Where Your Budget Should Go

OpenAI released Sora, an AI video generation tool, and it's genuinely impressive. You describe a video and it creates it. The quality is remarkable.

And immediately, I saw firms thinking: "We should use this for marketing!" or "Let's create training videos with Sora!"

Slow down. Sora is cool technology. But it's probably not where your AI budget should go. Here's why.

What Sora Does Well

Sora can generate coherent video from text descriptions. The output quality is impressive—visually consistent, logically coherent, technically well-produced for an AI.

If you need generic video (abstract concept videos, process animations, generic B-roll), Sora can create it fast and cheap.

What Sora Doesn't Do Well

Brand Consistency: If you have a specific brand look (color palette, logo, style), Sora doesn't respect that consistently. Your marketing videos won't look like your brand.

Specific People: You can't reliably create videos with specific people (your team, your clients, real actors). Sora can create people, but they're generic AI-generated people.

Complex Narratives: Sora does single-scene videos well. Complex, multi-scene narratives with cuts, voiceover, and specific framing? Not there yet.

Professional Services Work: Most professional services don't need video as a primary marketing channel. You need written content (blogs, research), case studies, and thought leadership. Video is secondary.

Where Professional Services Actually Need AI Right Now

If you have a budget for AI tools, spend it here first:

1. Document and Email Analysis ($10K-$20K investment)

This has 2-3x higher ROI than video. Email triage, document summarization, intake automation—these save time every single day.

2. Custom Applications ($20K-$50K investment)

Build custom GPTs for your firm's knowledge, your proposals, your client communication. This has unique competitive value.

3. Workflow Automation ($30K-$100K investment)

Automate your actual work processes. Integrate AI with your CRM, document system, billing system. This transforms operations.

4. Then Consider Video ($5K-$15K investment)

Only after the fundamentals are handled. And even then, video is probably not your highest-value use case.

When Video Actually Matters

Some professional services do video well and should invest in it:

• Training firms that deliver video-based training
• Marketing agencies
• Real estate firms
• Coaching or consulting

If that's you, Sora is worth a pilot. For everyone else? Lower priority.

The Distraction Factor

Here's what worries me: shiny new AI capabilities distract firms from the fundamentals.

You don't have email triage working yet. But Sora is cool so you want to try it.

You haven't measured ROI on your first three AI implementations. But video generation looks impressive.

That's exactly backwards.

My Recommendation

Implement the foundational AI stuff first: email, documents, intake, proposals. Measure real ROI. Then expand.

If you have budget left over after the fundamentals, and if video actually matters for your business, try Sora. But don't let it distract you from the 80/20 work.

The firms that will win in 2024 won't be the ones with the coolest AI demos. They'll be the ones with AI embedded in every operational workflow, delivering consistent ROI.

Focus there. The video can wait.