According to data from analytics firm Appfigures, although only deployed in the US and Canada, and limited to invited users, Sora still reached 56,000 downloads on the first day (September 30).
In the first two days, this number increased to a total of 164,000 installation. By October 3, local time, the application officially rose to No. 1 on the US App Store, surpassing both ChatGPT and Gemini, both of which are strong competitors in the AI field.
Sora is considered to have an impressive debut, on par with Grok, an AI application developed by Elon Musk's xAI company and far surpassing Claude (Anthropic) or Copilot ( Microsoft).
Specifically, on the first day, ChatGPT and Gemini reached 81,000 and 80,000 downloads respectively, while Claude only reached 21,000 and Copilot 7,000.
This shows the special appeal of AI tools focusing on video, a field that is being considered a new playground for artificial intelligence.
Notably, despite limited user base, Sora climbed the rankings quickly.
On the second day after its launch, the app ranked No. 3 on the US App Store.
Compared to its competitors, ChatGPT reached No. 1 on the second day, Grok held the No. 4 spot, Gemini No. 6, Copilot No. 19 and Claude only ranked until Saturday.
This achievement shows that Sora is holding a clear competitive advantage as users are increasingly interested in AI video.
Sora's rapid success reflects users' growing demand for highly creative AI tools that are close to social media experience.
However, this has also caused internal controversy at OpenAI.
Some researchers are concerned that the company is spending too much resources on entertainment products instead of focusing on the goal of developing AI technology for the common good of humanity.
Meanwhile, Appfigures notes that downloads between AI apps need to be carefully compared, as each company has a different launch strategy.
For example, ChatGPT was initially limited to the US on iOS, while Grok was rolled out in the US, Australia and India. Anthropic's Claude did not announce any geographical restrictions.
However, Sora's short-lived advantage over the big guys to lead the US App Store is still considered an important milestone.
It not only affirms the appeal of AI video but also shows that OpenAI is expanding its influence beyond traditional chatbots, towards more entertaining, creative and popular applications for mass users.
In the context of fierce competition between technology companies, Sora's initial success could signal a new race, where video AI becomes the focus, rather than just a text chatbot as before.
