AI Video News, September 2026: Sora API Gone, Kling 4.0 Arrives

September 2026 was the month the AI video market lost its most famous name and gained its longest-clip contender. Here is what happened, and what it changes if you build products on video APIs.

1. OpenAI switched off the Sora 2 API (September 24)

Six months after announcing the deprecation, OpenAI shut down the Videos API and every Sora model alias, including sora-2 and sora-2-pro. The consumer Sora app had already closed on April 26. OpenAI's documentation lists no replacement model, so Sora integrations have to move to another lab.

What it means: the biggest single-vendor risk in AI video materialized. Veo 3 Fast, MiniMax H3 and Kling 3 are the usual replacements. Full guide: How to migrate off the Sora 2 API.

2. Kling 4.0 Flash opened to early access (September 28)

Kuaishou announced Kling 4.0 and gave a restricted group of subscribers access to its lighter Flash tier: 3 to 20-second clips at 720p. The full Kling 4.0, announced for October, promises up to 30 seconds, up to 4K, 10-bit HDR, native stereo audio and up to 10 keyframes per generation. There is no general developer API yet.

What it means: 30-second single generations are becoming standard at the top end, after Seedance 2.5 and Wan 3.0. Details: Kling 4.0 Flash, what developers should know.

3. Gemini Omni Flash preview endpoint retired (September 30)

Google's Gemini Omni Flash, unveiled at I/O in May and generally available since August 27 as gemini-omni-1.1-flash, closed its preview endpoint at the end of the month. Anyone still calling the preview ID had to move to the stable model. Video output is token-billed, roughly $0.10 per second at 720p. Still no Veo 4: Veo 3.1 remains Google's dedicated video line. Read Gemini Omni Flash explained.

4. The summer releases settle in

Several models launched in July and August became production-ready during September:

• Seedance 2.5 (ByteDance): released July 31, public API since August 7. 30-second clips with native audio and up to 50 reference inputs. Our overview.
• MiniMax H3 / Hailuo 3: launched July 31, base weights published August 3 under a license that excludes local deployment in the US, EU, UK and South Korea. The license catch.
• Wan 3.0 (Alibaba): public beta August 6, release August 24, 30-second clips and document inputs, API-only with no open weights. What it is and is not.
• Grok Imagine Video 1.5 (xAI): generally available since June, with a July 31 update adding native 1080p, text-to-video and voice references; priced at $4.20 per minute of video.

5. Prices keep falling at the low end

Entry tiers now start around $0.03 to $0.05 per second (Veo 3.1 Lite at 720p, Seedance 2.0 Mini, Wan at 480p), while premium tiers with audio still reach $0.40 per second or more. The spread between cheapest and most expensive option for the same 10-second clip is now more than tenfold. The full table is in our October 2026 pricing comparison.

Trends to watch in October

• Kling 4.0 full launch and whether a developer API follows quickly.
• Longer clips everywhere: 30 seconds is becoming the new ceiling for flagship models.
• Native audio by default: Veo, MiniMax H3, Seedance 2.5, Wan 3.0 and Grok Imagine all generate sound; silent models are starting to look dated.
• Open weights with strings attached: MiniMax's regional license and Wan 3.0 staying closed suggest the open era of video models is narrowing.

We update the model catalog as new models become available through stable APIs.

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