video-generation

Google is adding Veo 3.1 Lite to Ultra subscriptions at zero credit cost starting May 10, 2026. The model costs less than half of Veo 3.1 Fast but generates videos at the same speed according to Google, though quality tradeoffs remain unclear.

YouTube is rolling out an AI avatar feature that lets creators generate digital versions of themselves for use in Shorts videos. The tool requires users to record a "live selfie" with face and voice data, generates clips up to 8 seconds long, and marks all AI-generated content with watermarks and digital labels.

YouTube is rolling out an AI avatar feature that lets users create photorealistic versions of themselves for YouTube Shorts. Users record a live selfie and voice prompts to generate an avatar that can create up to 8-second video clips. The feature includes watermarks, digital labels (SynthID and C2PA), and AI-generated content disclosures.

Tencent's Hunyuan team released OmniWeaving on April 3, 2026, an open-source video generation model designed to compete with proprietary systems like Seedance-2.0. The model combines multimodal composition, reasoning-informed capabilities, and supports eight video generation tasks including text-to-video, image-to-video, video editing, and compositional generation.

Microsoft AI released three foundational models on April 2: MAI-Transcribe-1 for speech-to-text across 25 languages, MAI-Voice-1 for audio generation, and MAI-Image-2 for video generation. The company positions these models as cheaper alternatives to Google and OpenAI offerings. Models are available on Microsoft Foundry with pricing starting at $0.36 per hour for transcription.

Google announced Veo 3.1 Lite, a cost-reduced video generation model priced at less than 50% of Veo 3.1 Fast's cost. The model supports text-to-video and image-to-video generation at 720p or 1080p resolution with customizable durations of 4s, 6s, or 8s, rolling out today on the Gemini API and Google AI Studio.

OpenAI is shutting down Sora in two phases: the web app and mobile application close April 26, 2026, followed by the API on September 24, 2026. Users must export their videos and images before the cutoff dates, as user data will be permanently deleted afterward. The discontinuation reflects OpenAI's strategic shift toward coding tools and enterprise products.

ByteDance confirmed Thursday that Dreamina Seedance 2.0, its audio and video generation model, is rolling out in CapCut across seven initial markets. The model generates videos up to 15 seconds with realistic textures and motion, but includes safety restrictions blocking generation from real faces and unauthorized IP use.

OpenAI announced the shutdown of its Sora video generation app on Tuesday via an X post, just two days after publishing usage guidelines and following Disney's withdrawal from a proposed $1 billion investment deal. The move represents OpenAI's second major product discontinuation in recent months, after deprecating GPT-4o in January with two weeks' notice.

OpenAI announced the shutdown of its Sora standalone video generation app on X, though the company provided no explanation for the decision. The closure kills a partnership deal with Disney that would have allowed Sora to generate videos using Disney IP. Video generation capabilities may remain available through other OpenAI channels.

OpenAI announced Tuesday it will shut down Sora, the video generation app that launched publicly in December 2024. The shutdown comes as OpenAI refocuses on business and productivity applications and faces intensifying competition from ByteDance's SeeDance 2.0 and Google's Veo.

OpenAI announced the discontinuation of Sora, its consumer video generation app and API. The shutdown follows declining user engagement and aligns with OpenAI's strategic pivot toward enterprise AI products and robotics research, with Disney exiting a planned $1 billion investment.

OpenAI announced Tuesday that it is discontinuing Sora, its video generation tool launched in late 2024, along with both the standalone app and developer API access. The shutdown also terminates Disney's $1 billion investment deal announced in December, which included licensing Disney characters for use within Sora and plans to distribute AI-generated videos on Disney+.

Stability AI has introduced Stable Virtual Camera, a multi-view diffusion model currently in research preview that generates 3D videos from 2D images with realistic depth and perspective transformations. The model requires no complex scene reconstruction or scene-specific optimization, enabling direct camera control across multiple viewpoints.

OpenAI plans to add its Sora video generation model directly to ChatGPT, according to The Information. The move comes as the standalone Sora app, launched in September 2025, has seen declining engagement despite strong initial adoption. Integration could help grow ChatGPT's 900 million weekly active users toward 1 billion.

OpenAI released version 2.27.0 of its Python SDK on March 13, 2026, adding significant improvements to the Sora video generation API. The update introduces character API support, video extension and editing capabilities, and higher resolution export options.

OpenAI plans to integrate its Sora video generator as a built-in feature within ChatGPT, according to The Information. Currently available only on a standalone website and app, the integration would let users generate videos directly in the chatbot, similar to how image generation was added last year.

ByteDance has released Helios, a 14-billion-parameter open-weight video generation model that achieves 19.5 frames per second on a single GPU while generating minute-long video clips. The researchers claim this is the first model of its scale to reach near-real-time performance at this duration. Code and model weights are publicly available.

Google is expanding NotebookLM's video generation capabilities with Cinematic Video Overviews, which produce styled visual narratives beyond simple slide presentations. The update also includes upgrades to Canvas in AI Mode, enhancing the tool's ability to synthesize and present document insights.

Google has upgraded NotebookLM's video overview feature to generate fully animated videos from research notes and documents, moving beyond the previous narrated slideshow format. The new capability uses multiple Google AI models including Gemini 3 and Veo 3 to automatically create visual content that matches the narrative.

Google has rolled out video templates in its Gemini app, enabling users to generate video content more quickly through pre-built starting points. This update follows the introduction of music generation capabilities the previous week.