OpenAIVerified interview challenge
Sora 1: Design a Sora-like video generation service
Design how a video request becomes a reliable, long-running job with progress updates and a finished result.
Unlock with Full AccessThe challenge
A request should be acknowledged quickly even though generating its video takes minutes. Users need to follow progress, retrieve the result and receive status notifications. Design the service that keeps this work tracked from acceptance through execution and delivery.
The generation engine is supplied as a black box. Your task is the service around it, including what happens when a worker fails, a client retries or a notification cannot be delivered. The design must preserve accepted work through those interruptions.
What you'll practise
Long-running jobs
Keep accepted requests tracked while generation runs in the background.
Recovery and retries
Explain what happens when workers fail or a request arrives twice.
Progress and delivery
Make status and results available, including through webhook notifications.