Startup AI Runway launches app to bring users video-to-video generative AI

Runway, an AI startup that helped develop the Stable Diffusion AI image generator, launched its first mobile app yesterday to give users access to Gen-1, its video-based generative AI model. video. The app is currently only available on iOS devices.

With the new app, users will be able to record video from their phone and generate AI video in minutes. They can also transform any existing video in their library using text prompts, images or style presets.

Users can choose from Runway’s list of presets like “Cloudscape”, or transform their video to look like clay, charcoal sketch, watercolor, paper origami and more. They can also upload an image or enter an idea in the text box.

The app will then generate four previews for users to choose from. Once they have selected the one they like the most, it will take a few minutes to produce the final product. We tested the app ourselves and found that it took around 60 seconds or more. Sometimes it took two minutes to generate.

Naturally, as with any AI generator, the results aren’t perfect and often look distorted or weird. In general, the concept of AI video generators might seem silly and maybe even fancy. But as technology evolves and improves over time, it could be invaluable to users. For example, content creators can spice up their social media posts.

Regardless, we found Runway’s mobile app to be easy to use and fun overall.

Below is an example we found, using a clip of Michael Scott from “The Office”. A text prompt we entered was “realistic puppet”.

(Warning: the result is terrifying.)

We also tried “3D animation”, which turned out to be ok.

Granted, there are a few other caveats besides glitches and distorted faces.

If users want the free version, there is a limit of 525 credits and they can only upload five-second videos. Each second of a video uses 14 credits.

In the future, Runway plans to add support for longer videos, co-founder and CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela told TechCrunch. The app will continue to improve and release new features, he added.

“We focus on improving efficiency, quality and control. In the coming weeks and months you will see all kinds of updates, from longer releases to higher quality videos,” Valenzuela said.

Also note that the app does not generate nudity or copyrighted works, so you cannot create videos that mimic the style of the popular IP.

Runway’s new mobile app offers two premium plans: Standard ($143.99/year) and Pro ($344.99/year). The standard plan gets you 625 credits/month and other premium features like 1080p video, unlimited projects and more. The Pro plan offers 2,250 credits/month and all of Runway’s 30+ AI tools.

A month after the release of Runway Gen-1, launched in February, Runway has rolled out its Gen-2 model. Arguably a step up from the Stable Diffusion and DALL-E text-to-image models, Gen-2 is a text-to-video generator, so users will be able to generate videos from scratch.

Runway has slowly started rolling out access to its closed beta for Gen-2, Valenzuela told us.

The app currently supports the Gen-1 model, but Gen-2 will soon be available along with Runway’s other AI tools, such as its picture-to-picture generator.

Both Meta and Google have launched text-to-video generators called Make-A-Video and Imagen respectively.

Runway has developed various AI-powered video editing software since its launch in 2018. The company has a variety of different tools in its web-based video editor, such as frame interpolation, deleting of the background, blur effects, a feature that cleans up or removes audio and motion tracking, among many others.

The tools have helped influencers and even movie/TV studios reduce the time spent editing and creating videos.

For example, the visual effects team behind “Everything Everywhere All at Once” used technology from Runway to help create the scene in the film where Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) and Joy (Stephanie Hsu) are in a multiverse where they were transformed into moving rocks.

Additionally, the graphics team behind CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” used Runway to cut editing hours to just five minutes, according to art director Andro Buneta.

Runway also operates Runway Studios, its entertainment and production division.