Meta Unveils Instant A.I. Video Generator (Meta Movie Gen)!

Dear Commons Community,

On Friday, the tech giant Meta unveiled a set of A.I. tools, called Meta Movie Gen, for automatically generating videos, instantly editing them and synchronizing them with A.I.-generated sound effects, ambient noise and background music.  As reported by The New York Times.

Video is nothing without audio,” said Ahmad Al-Dahle, Meta’s vice president of generative A.I., said in an interview.

Given a short text description of an image, one tool creates a video. Then, given another description of some sounds, a second tool adds the audio.

A demonstration included short videos — created in minutes — of a man in a poncho standing over a waterfall, a snake slithering through a forest and a person riding an all-terrain vehicle across the desert. Each included music as well as sound effects.

The new system also lets people upload photos of themselves and instantly weave these images to moving videos.

It generates 16-frame-per-second videos that last for up to 16 seconds. In some cases, these videos are flawed. During one demonstration for The New York Times, when asked to generate a video of a dog in a park talking on a cellphone, it mistakenly grafted a human hand onto the phone.\

This video’s A.I. prompt: “A fluffy koala bear surfs. It has a gray and white coat and a round nose. The surfboard is yellow. The koala bear is holding onto the surfboard with its paws. The koala bear gets on the surfboard, its facial expression is focused. The sun is shining.”  See video below.

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, sees the technology as a way to accelerate the work of Hollywood movie-makers and online creators. Like OpenAI, it has started testing the technology with a small group of professionals.

The two companies are among many developing this kind of tool; others include start-ups like Runway and Pika and tech giants like Google and Microsoft. Though many believe the technology could speed the work of seasoned moviemakers, it could also replace less experienced digital artists.

Others experts worry that the technology could become a quick and inexpensive way of creating online disinformation, making it even harder to tell what’s real on the internet.

While OpenAI and other companies have been reluctant to release some A.I. technologies amid concerns about disinformation and other potential risks, Meta has been quicker to share them freely, arguing that the risks are not as great as they may seem.

Tony

 

This video’s A.I. prompt: “A fluffy koala bear surfs. It has a gray and white coat and a round nose. The surfboard is yellow. The koala bear is holding onto the surfboard with its paws. The koala bear gets on the surfboard, its facial expression is focused. The sun is shining.”  CreditVideo by Meta.

 

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