AI video actually gets good

Happy Friday! This is Rachel reporting from Los Angeles. Artificial intelligence has changed filmmaking a lot over the past year, even thoug [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Happy Friday! This is Rachel reporting from Los Angeles. Artificial intelligence has changed filmmaking a lot over the past year, even though the technology is just getting started. But first… Three things you need to know today: • Apple rallies on an upbeat forecast, [positive results and record buyback]( • China-based Huawei is secretly [providing millions in prizes for US research]( • Microsoft adds security chiefs for its product groups in the wake of [criticism over failing to stop hacks]( AI comes to filmmaking This week Runway AI Inc., which makes AI video generating and editing tools, held its second annual [AI Film Festival]( in Los Angeles — its first stop before heading to New York next week. To give a sense for how much the event has grown since last year, Runway co-founder Cristóbal Valenzuela said last year people submitted 300 videos for festival consideration. This year they sent in 3,000. A crowd of hundreds of filmmakers, techies, artists, venture capitalists and at least one well-known actor (Poker Face star Natasha Lyonne) gathered at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown LA Wednesday night to view the 10 finalists chosen by the festival’s judges. The films were made with a range of AI tools and were about as wacky as you might expect. In one, a cartoon kiwi bird went on an adventure across the ocean. In another, the modern struggle with anxiety was personified by a man trapped in a house fighting with a meat monster. The curious, excited vibe of the event was similar to last year, when I attended Runway’s first AI Film Festival last March. The videos, however, were markedly different this time around. They looked a lot less like experimental films and a lot more like, well, films. At the time of last year’s festival, Runway [was about to publicly release software]( that would let anyone generate a short video from a text prompt, marking the most high-profile instance of such technology outside of a research lab. It was evident back then that many filmmakers were just starting to think about how AI might fit into their creative process — whether they were using still images generated with AI or using Runway’s software for editing. Many of the films that year were self-consciously digital. My favorite, Sam Lawton’s [“Expanded Childhood,”]( used AI image-generation software to extend childhood photos with weird, melty faced characters and sometimes-odd, sometimes-normal-seeming backgrounds. Now, the films look different, as does the industry. Runway is one of several companies offering text-to-video software. ChatGPT maker OpenAI [recently pushed the development of such technology into hyperdrive]( by unveiling its own effort in the space, [Sora](. And while Sora doesn’t yet have a release date, OpenAI has given a number of creators access to it, yielding [interesting results](. AI has sped up the transition from quirky novelty to a useful tool for filmmakers. The films shown at the festival this week were captivating and strange and cool and thought-provoking. I really liked one that contemplated what happens to grandmothers after they die, called “Where Do Grandmas Go When They Get Lost?” In many cases, I couldn’t quite tell how or where AI was used in the production process. I asked [Paul Trillo](, a director and a member of the festival jury, what he makes of the changes to his industry. Trillo is a filmmaker who’s skilled at using a range of AI software, and on Thursday he released the first commissioned [music video]( with Sora to Washed Out’s song “The Hardest Part.” He knows a lot of his peers are vociferously against the use of such tools, but, for those who are trying them out, he said it indicates they’re moving away from AI as a gimmick. “I like experimental film,” Trillo said, “but just doing experiments is only interesting for so long.” —[Rachel Metz](mailto:rmetz17@bloomberg.net) Bloomberg Tech conference Hi, Tom Giles here, hijacking part of today’s newsletter to hype our flagship Bloomberg Tech event, coming up May 9 in San Francisco. We’ve got a stellar lineup that includes Anthropic co-founders Dario and Daniela Amodei, Xbox President Sarah Bond, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Adam Neumann, the former CEO of WeWork. I’m especially excited to get the chance to interview Meta Chief Product Officer Chis Cox, Arm CEO Rene Haas and Reddit CEO Steve Huffman. [Learn More.]( The big story Intel is making a $28 billion bet on a new chip factory in Ohio. Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger says “Ohio One” will be the most-[advanced chipmaking facility in the world and the key to returning the company to industry prominence](. One to watch [Watch Bloomberg Television’s interview with Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon after his company’s positive quarterly results.]( Get fully charged Here are the Top 10 [“Ones to Watch”Â]([in technology](. Amazon and cybersecurity company CrowdStrike agreed on a deal for the e-commerce company’s cloud unit [to use CrowdStrike’s security products.]( Khosla Ventures was among the VCs that backed a $100 million fundraising round for[blood-testing startup Karius](. More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Tech Daily newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](