Is China pulling ahead in AI video synthesis? We put Minimax to the test
If 2022 was the year AI image generators went mainstream, 2024 has arguably been the year that AI video synthesis models exploded in capability. These models, while not yet perfect, can generate new videos from text descriptions called prompts, still images, or existing videos. After OpenAI made waves with Sora in February, two major AI models emerged from China: Kuaishou Technology's Kling and Minimax's video-01.
Both Chinese models have already powered numerous viral AI-generated video projects, accelerating meme culture in weird new ways, including a recent shot-for-shot translation of the Princess Mononoke trailer using Kling that inspired death threats and a series of videos created with Minimax's platform. The videos show a synthesized version of TV chef Gordon Ramsay doing ridiculous things.
After 22 million views and thousands of death threats, I felt like I needed to take this post down for my own mental health.
— PJ Ace (@PJaccetturo) October 8, 2024
This trailer was an EXPERIMENT to show my 300 friends on X how far we've coming in 16 months.
I'm putting it back up to keep the conversation going. pic.twitter.com/tFpRPm9BMv
Kling first emerged in June, and it can generate two minutes of 1080p HD video at 30 frames per second with a level of detail and coherency that some think surpasses Sora. It's currently only available to people with a Chinese telephone number, and we have not yet used it ourselves.