Videos also frequently feature depictions of characters from films, TV and games.

In one Sora deepfake of Sam Altman, the OpenAI boss is shown with several Pokémon characters saying “I hope Nintendo doesn’t sue us”, CNBC reported, external.

In another viral deepfake video he grills and eats the game’s infamous Pikachu mascot.

Nintendo has not revealed any plans to take legal action, but several companies behind popular generative AI systems, including OpenAI, are currently locked in legal battles with the creators and rights holders of creative works.

The potential cost of these battles is high.

AI firm Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5bn (£1.11bn) to settle a class action lawsuit filed by authors who said the company stole their work to train its AI models.

OpenAI says it is adapting its approach to these issues.

On 4 October, Mr Altman blogged, external that the firm had been “learning quickly from how people are using Sora and taking feedback from users, rights holders, and other interested groups”.

He said the firm would “give rights holders more granular control over generation of characters”.

And he said there were plans for some form of revenue-sharing in the future.

But it remains to be seen if rights holders will agree Sora videos are a new kind of “interactive fan fiction” as Mr Altman suggested – or whether it will force the firm to face a grilling in the civil courts.