Meta Platforms has introduced Movie Gen, an artificial intelligence (AI) video generator capable of creating or editing videos from simple text prompts.

The tool, which can generate videos up to 16 seconds long, is said to position Meta in direct competition with OpenAI and Google, as the race to develop advanced AI technologies intensifies.

Movie Gen is currently available to select internal employees and external partners, with plans to integrate it into Meta’s suite of apps in the coming year.

The generative AI research for media spans various modalities, including image, video, and audio.

Movie Gen’s capabilities extend to generating audio, editing existing videos, and using photos to craft custom videos featuring real individuals.

This advancement in the AI domain is challenging the likes of OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s DeepMind subsidiary’s Veo, both of which have also unveiled video generation tools.

Meta generative AI products vice-president Connor Hayes was quoted by Bloomberg as saying: “Executives are still discussing how best to implement this integration, but the aim is for Movie Gen to encourage more people to create or edit video posts.”

It will be “fun to use, helpful for creators, good for overall engagement in the apps, but we don’t have a concrete product plan of what it will look like at this point,” he added.

While Movie Gen is set to enhance user experience within Meta’s platforms, the company is also addressing critical safety and responsibility issues.

According to Meta, they are “sorting out a bunch of really important problems around safety and responsibility,” including the creation of personalised videos.

The company will focus on ensuring that users cannot produce inappropriate or unflattering videos of others without consent. This concern is paramount, given the past misuse of similar technologies in creating deceptive deepfakes of public figures, Meta added.

Meta executives are actively working on solutions to mitigate misuse, including the potential introduction of “watermark” features to distinguish AI-generated content.

This move is crucial in maintaining the integrity of digital content and preventing the spread of misinformation through manipulated media.

In July 2024, Meta announced the plans to release a new tool that allows users to create, share and design personalised AI characters.