It all began when Meta debuted 'Movie Gen' in October.
The idea was to compete with the likes of OpenAI’s Sora. Designed to "produce custom videos and sounds, edit existing videos, and transform your personal image into a unique video," the AI utilizes many of Meta's earlier multimodal efforts.
The goal is to provide users more control over what it outputs.
"These models can reason about object motion, subject-object interactions, and camera motion, and they can learn plausible motions for a wide variety of concepts," Meta wrote in October, "making them state-of-the-art models in their category."
At the time, Meta said the AI was still a research project and that it has no immediate plans to make the features available to users.
This time, Instagram is borrowing this AI, and plans on using it first.
To showcase this, Instagram head Adam Mosseri shared a video as a teaser to what this AI can do.
Read: Meta Unveils 'Meta Gen' AI For Creating Realistic, Customizable Videos With Sounds
The tool, which uses Meta’s Movie Gen model, is able to "change nearly any aspect of your videos," Mosseri explained.
In the short video clip, Mosseri’s backdrop and outfit change multiple times, adding a hippo to the background, to a playful moment where he appears as a Muppet-like character.
Meta is "working on some really exciting AI tools" for video creators, and that "You should be able to do anything you want with your videos," he said.
"You should be able to change your outfit, or change the context in which you're sitting, or add a chain — whatever you can think of."
The transitions flow smoothly, with minimal signs of AI-generated artifacts.
With the AI, editing Instagram videos will soon be as simple as typing out a text prompt.
As the multimodal capabilities of Large Language Models continue to advance, not only Meta but also smaller companies are rapidly developing text-to-video AI tools.
As a result, the AI industry is likely to face increasingly tough competition to attract users.
Companies will need to innovate continuously to stand out in this fast-paced market. Offering unique features, better performance, and ease of use could be key factors in determining market leaders.
Additionally, as more players enter the field, users can expect a wider variety of tools tailored to different creative needs.
This competitive environment may also drive down costs, making AI-powered video generation more accessible to individuals and businesses alike.
Mosseri didn’t indicate exactly when Movie Gen features will actually arrive on Instagram, other than some time in 2024.
But he did say that there would be "more to come" from the company.
Read: Finally, OpenAI Announces 'Sora Is Here': Better Late Than Never