Video Generation

Today's Stories

1. 1

   Synthesia builds first journalist avatar, trained on one story

   Synthesia, a digital avatar startup valued at $4 billion, made an interactive avatar for a TechCrunch reporter at its New York office. It is trained only on her venture fraud story. The avatar answers press questions and runs on Synthesia's video, voice, and language models, pointing to a future where AI clones handle corporate communication and possibly journalism tasks.

   Whether avatar use spreads in corporate America hinges on trust and acceptance. The reporter predicts her Gen Z peers likely won't get used to digital twins.

2. 2

   Runway's AI film course spawns talent pipeline for studios

   Runway launched its first AI filmmaking course in 2024 at NYU’s Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center, and its tool training is now offered at USC, RISD, MIT, and Harvard. Studios find it easier to hire graduates who already know the tools than to train their own teams, so these courses are becoming a hiring pipeline.

   The value of this pipeline hinges on whether AI filmmaking skills become a standard requirement for production roles. Watch whether more schools adopt similar courses.

3. 3

   Japan dethrone China in Asian Games men's team final as Wen Ruibo falls

   Japan beat China 3-2 in the Asian Games men's team final, as Sora Matsushima defeated Wen Ruibo in the decisive match, ending China's gold run since 1994. The result ended a streak that had lasted at every Games since 1994, a run one player described as proof the team had lacked confidence before.

   Whether the result holds as a turning point hinges on China's depth, which one player said used to mean six or seven strong players, while Japan now has two in the world top five.

4. 4

   China's cities court AI filmmaker Zhu Zhili

   AI filmmaker Zhu Zhili, who picked Shenzhen for his AI film studio two years ago, says cities and industrial parks across China now call him daily to pitch relocating there. The pitches suggest local governments are competing to host AI film businesses, a shift for a filmmaker who once saw only one clear base.

   Whether any city's offer actually moves Zhu's studio is unclear; the article names no deal, subsidy or timeline, so the courtship remains just that.

5. 5

   Runway's GWM Worlds 2 lets you prompt real-time worlds

   Runway released GWM Worlds 2, a research preview that turns video and audio generation into real-time interactive simulation, featuring WorldPrompt for setting the first frame and adding timestamped actions in real time. Runway is reportedly valued at $5.3 billion after a $315 million fund raise in February, and WorldPrompt helps differentiate it from Google DeepMind's Genie 3, Odyssey-2 Pro, and World Labs' RTFM.

   CTO Kamil Sindi says more training plus scaling data and models is resulting in better following, but the research preview has flaws and long-term memory remains an open research problem.

6. 6

   Netflix faces backlash over AI recreation of dead actor

   Fans have slammed a new Netflix show for using an AI recreation of a dead actor, with some calling it 'repulsive.' The backlash highlights audience sensitivity around using AI to recreate deceased performers, which could affect how studios approach such technology.

   It is unclear whether Netflix will respond or change its practices; the reaction may influence future decisions on AI recreations in entertainment.