Cameo sues OpenAI: a battle for the word “Cameo” and its reputation in the AI ​​world

Personalized video greeting platform Cameo has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of illegally using its brand in a new “cameo” feature in Sora 2. The plaintiffs claim that OpenAI is intentionally plagiarizing their reputation and confusing users — and associating the Cameo brand with “low-quality AI content and deepfakes.”

Cameo is demanding that OpenAI stop using the word “cameo” in its services, pay compensation, and not mislead users. According to the company, OpenAI intentionally borrowed the name in order to use brand recognition to draw attention to its own feature in Sora 2, which allows you to create AI avatars of people for videos.

The lawsuit states that using a similar name “diluted the brand,” creates false associations with low-quality deepfakes, and could harm the reputation of the personalized video greeting service.

OpenAI responded with a statement: the company is convinced that no one can “monopolise the word cameo” and is ready to defend its position in court.

• The Cameo service has been around since 2017, allowing you to order personalized videos from famous people.

• In 2022, the company launched Cameo Kids with AI characters like Peppa Pig.

• OpenAI introduced Sora 2 in September 2025 with a “cameo” function for creating AI avatars.

• After the function was launched, social networks were flooded with AI videos with famous people – some of them without consent.

Cameo’s lawsuit against OpenAI is another signal: the war for brands, names and digital images in the world of artificial intelligence is just beginning. Lawyers expect that the court may become a precedent for future disputes about the commercial use of personal images and names in AI services.