Video Generation

Today's Stories

1. 1

   District 9 director releases first AI-generated short film

   Neill Blomkamp, director of "District 9," released "Nightborne," a 13-minute sci-fi horror short film made entirely with the Seedance 2.0 video generation model. Blomkamp directed the film frame by frame using text prompts, and the faces and voices of 32 real people were used under licensing agreements. The project demonstrates that established filmmakers are beginning to use AI video generation as a production tool, despite ongoing skepticism in creative industries over training data sourcing, job losses, and copyright concerns. Blomkamp's move signals that AI is gaining ground in professional filmmaking, even as these concerns persist.

   Blomkamp plans to shoot a full-length feature film in the same format. He has also founded Barley Studios, a new AI film studio that succeeds his earlier venture, Oats Studios, which makes traditional films.

2. 2

   PixVerse reaches $2B valuation on $439M Series C funding

   Singapore-based AI video startup PixVerse closed an extended Series C round at over $2 billion（約3200億円） valuation, raising $439 million（約700億円） from investors including Alibaba, Lollapalooza Capital, and Mirae Asset. The company, founded in 2023 by Wang Changhu (formerly of ByteDance) and Jaden Xie, offers models for video generation, film production, and world models for game development. PixVerse's valuation signals investor confidence that the AI video generation market has room for winners beyond OpenAI and established players. Co-founder Xie argues that only a handful of companies can deliver the quality needed—pointing to OpenAI's shutdown of Sora 2 and Meta and Tencent's struggles to build high-quality video models. The company's competitive edge stems partly from Changhu's experience building visual AI and data-labeling systems at ByteDance, a precision-labeling capability that now powers PixVerse's video platform.

   PixVerse reports more than 150 million registered users and 15 million monthly active users. Competition remains intense, with ByteDance, Midjourney, Google, Runway, Luma, and others advancing video and world models at a similar pace.

3. 3

   OpenAI shutters ChatGPT Atlas browser after less than a year

   OpenAI is shutting down ChatGPT Atlas, its browser launched in October, with deprecation targeted for August 9th. The company is rolling the lessons learned from Atlas into updated browser features in the desktop ChatGPT app and a new cloud browser for work mode. Atlas was designed to help users accomplish tasks on the open web on their behalf. OpenAI is consolidating what it learned from the experiment into more integrated productivity tools as it works to reduce side projects and catch up with Anthropic on work-focused features.

   The August 9th sunset date for Atlas marks one of several recent product shutdowns by OpenAI, including the video generation app Sora and a paused ChatGPT "adult mode," suggesting the company is refocusing its priorities.

4. 4

   Wistron chair: AI demand expands as sovereign AI projects spread globally

   Wistron chairman Simon Lin stated that AI demand is expanding beyond the US as sovereign AI projects gain traction in more countries, signaling entry into a new phase rather than a bubble. The shift toward sovereign AI (state-backed or nation-focused AI initiatives) suggests the market is broadening beyond US-dominated players. For infrastructure providers and businesses, this means wider adoption potential, more paid services, and a longer runway for AI infrastructure spending globally.

   Whether sovereign AI projects across more countries translate into sustained spending on the hardware and services that companies like Wistron supply.