Meta has developed a new, shockingly accurate AI video generator

The inevitability of our AI slop future is getting closer every day. The tech industry is in a race to develop new artificial intelligence models that can create supposedly “Hollywood-style” video clips. It's like the space race of the 1960s, only much less impressive. Apparently Meta has just taken a big lead over the competition with its new “Movie Gen” model, which is significant for its ability to create videos with sound. The model is not yet available for users to play, but Meta shared its research publicly on Friday.

According to a Meta blog post, Movie Gen can “use simple text input to create custom videos and sounds, edit existing videos, and convert your personal image into a unique video.” It can produce “video of up to 16 seconds at a rate of 16 frames per second” as well as “high-quality, high-resolution audio up to 45 seconds.” It can take personal photos of a user and create a video that “preserves human identity and movement.” (The example is a selfie of a woman who, for some reason, creates a video of her DJing next to a cheetah.) “Precise video editing” allows users to “make local edits like adding, removing, or replacing elements, as well as global changes like the Background” or style changes.” (The examples given here are various animals in natural environments that are given silly little outfits.

In the blog post, Meta says that Movie Gen outperforms similar models in the industry, and looking at the sample videos, they are actually some of the most shockingly accurate AI videos ever. Meta insists that ““Generative AI is not a replacement for the work of artists and animators,” but aims to “help people express themselves in new ways and give people opportunities they might not otherwise have.” But of course there are other existential concerns about this one Technology, except that Hollywood will almost certainly one day use it to exclude working creatives from the process. Apparently this is being used to create misinformation on a new and frightening level. And then there is this author's personal passion: the fact that AI consumes so much energy that it has already been described as a “major contributor to climate change.” But Meta and its competitors at OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and the like seem to care less about these concerns and more about being the first and best product on the market, leaving the rest of us to just deal with the consequences.