TikTok’s Owner Launches AI text-to-video Generation Tool
Updated: Sep 20, 2024
The owner of the social media monster, TikTok, has launched an AI text-to-video generation tool; but only for Chinese users for the time being.
ByteDance has released Jimeng AI, a text-to-image and text-to-video generator. It is now available on the Apple App Store and is free to download. However, reports ZDNet, the app offers several subscription tiers, including a monthly subscription of ¥69 ($9.65) and a yearly subscription of ¥659 ($91.77). ZDNet adds: “With the plans, users can generate roughly 2,050 images or 168 videos monthly.”
The launch was first spotted by Reuters; but follows the release of an Android version.
The launch is hitting headlines because it generates both AI videos and images; which puts it above the likes of OpenAI's DALL-E 3, which generates images from text. There is a video generation tool incoming from OpenAI called Sora; but there isn’t a public release date as yet.
ByteDance has openly shown its AI ambitions. Experience in creating virtual clothes try-ons and generative AI shopping tools are on the want list from TikTok for a raft of job posts currently advertised.
However, while furiously innovating in the AI space, the company is also fighting for its very existence in the US. It is locked in a legal fight with the US Government over allegations that it has been sharing sensitive data from its US users with China.
The US Department of Justice, reports The Register, has released a report in which it accuses ByteDance of using its internal comms system for sharing data, which employees can then search for specific terms. This data could easily get into the hands of the Chinese government, says the Department as defence for its decision to force the company to either sell its US operations or shut them down.
In one of many posts on X, ByteDance continues to claim the move is unconstitutional, declaring: “Nothing in this brief changes the fact that the Constitution is on our side. The TikTok ban would silence 170 million Americans’ voices, violating the First Amendment.”
