Ian Sansavera, a software architect at a New York start-up called Runway AI, typed a short description of what he wanted to see in a video. “A tranquil river in the forest,” he wrote.
Less than two minutes later, an experimental internet service generated a short video of a tranquil river in a forest. The river’s running water glistened in the sun as it cut between trees and ferns, turned a corner and splashed gently over rocks.
Runway, which plans to open its service to a small group of testers this week, is one of several companies building artificial intelligence technology that will soon let people generate videos simply by typing several words into a box on a computer screen.
They represent the next stage in an industry race — one that includes giants like Microsoft and Google as well as much smaller start-ups — to create new kinds of artificial intelligence systems that some believe could be the next big thing in technology, as important as web browsers or the iPhone.
In the race to create new kinds of AI tech, several companies are building systems that will generate videos based on simple prompts. The new systems could speed the work of moviemakers, while becoming a quick way to create hard-to-detect misinformation.https://t.co/cO8aoxfVer
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 4, 2023