"Game On for Video AI: Runway and Stability Respond to OpenAI's Sora Advancements"

Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela took to X this afternoon in response to OpenAI's unexpected demo of its new Sora video AI model, which can generate 60-second video clips. His message was succinct: “game on.”

The competition for supremacy in video AI is intensifying. Just a few months ago, Runway impressed users with its Gen-2 update. In recent weeks, Google unveiled its Lumiere video AI model, and last week, Stability AI released SVD 1.1, a diffusion model designed for more consistent AI-generated videos.

Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque celebrated the launch of Sora, referring to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as a “wizard.”

Today’s announcement has dispelled previous doubts about OpenAI, which arose in the wake of Andrej Karpathy’s departure, reports of its entry into web search, and Altman's ambitious $7 trillion AI chip project.

Runway is racing ahead

In June 2023, Runway was valued at $1.5 billion after securing $141 million from investors like Google and Nvidia. Earlier this year, Runway enhanced its AI videos with new motion controls through its Multi Motion Brush. However, the feature set and limitations of Sora remain unclear.

Interestingly, I spoke with Runway’s creative director Jamie Umpherson about a unique project: the Gen-2 Book of Weights, an analog printed booklet containing only numbers. This initiative represents the first volume in what will eventually comprise the entire Gen-2 model weights collection.

“It was a fun experiment,” Umpherson noted, explaining that the idea emerged from a casual conversation about making the model weights tangible and visually engaging.

For now, Runway must stay focused on keeping pace with OpenAI and the competition in the video AI landscape rather than diverting attention to artistic endeavors.