Like its competitor Google, Amazon began an AI-powered video generator – which is currently only intended for advertisers and is somewhat limited in its capabilities.
Today at its Accelerate conference, Amazon unveiled the video generator that turns a single product image into video presentations of that product after a specific amount of processing time. The company says the tool can curate “tailored,” AI-generated videos that “showcase the features of a product,” at no additional cost.
“(Videos from the video generator) leverage Amazon’s unique retail information to bring a product story to life in a way that’s relevant to customers,” Amazon writes in a Blog post.
In an announcement, Jay Richman, vp of Amazon Ads, said the video generator, which is currently in beta for select U.S. advertisers, will likely be fine-tuned over time before a wider release.
“The Video Generator is one other significant innovation that uses generative AI to encourage creativity and deliver value to each advertisers and buyers,” said Richman. “We are working hard to deliver generative AI applications that enable advertisers to create visually stunning and high-performing ads.”
The same latest feature announced today is Live Image, which generates just a few seconds of animated GIFs from a still image. This feature can be in limited beta and is a component of Image Generator, Amazon's AI-powered image generation suite for marketers.
Amazon didn’t provide any sample material from the video generator and revealed only just a few technical details concerning the tool and the live image. For example, it is just not clear how long and what the utmost resolution of the generated clips could be.
We have asked Amazon for more information and can update this post if we receive a response.
Amazon's expansion into generative video comes alongside other corporations bringing their very own video generation technology to market. Startups Runway and Luma launched APIs for generative video this month, and Google says it’s within the strategy of integrating its flagship video model Veo into YouTube Shorts. Adobe promised that video generation will likely be available on its Creative Suite platform by the tip of the yr, and OpenAI is anticipated to launch its Sora technology in some form this fall.
As with all generative AI systems, there are risks related to using these tools.
Video generation models are trained on a lot of video samples to “learn” the patterns in those videos and generate latest clips. Some vendors train models on copyrighted videos without obtaining permission from the owners or creators. When these models “replay” copyrighted still images, they expose the models' users to IP lawsuits.
Amazon is one among several corporations that has said it’ll protect customers accused of copyright infringement using media created by its models under its compensation policy. We asked the corporate whether Video Generator and Live Image also fall under this policy.
Whatever the consequence of the legal disputes, one thing is evident: Generative AI threatens to show the film and tv industry as we comprehend it the other way up. A 2024 study Commissioned by the Animation Guild, a union representing Hollywood animators and cartoonists, it’s estimated that greater than 100,000 jobs within the U.S. entertainment industry will likely be lost as a consequence of generative AI by 2026.
