AI videos from China are coming for the world

The future internet could be flooded with content that strictly follows Beijing's rules.

- Catherine Thorbecke

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) companies are laser-focused on closing the development gap with the US. Despite Washington's efforts to hold the industry back, it's proving it can stay competitive with Silicon Valley.

I spent some time playing around with Vidu 2.0, a revamped AI video generator that has been dubbed a domestic rival to OpenAI's Sora. Released last week by Shengshu Technology - a Beijing-based start-up with ties to the backbone of Chinese AI innovation, Tsinghua University - the public platform lets anyone from around the world turn images into short videos.

There were still notable inconsistencies in some of the clips I created: wonky facial expressions, limb movements that seemed to defy the laws of physics, and other clear indications that these were AI-generated. (These limitations also seem to plague industry leader Sora.)

But I was most impressed by its speed. In a matter of seconds, I was able to create fake clips of US President Donald Trump crying or romantically embracing Mr Elon Musk. The company says the real breakthrough is its ability to cut the costs associated with this technology, claiming its short-form video content is produced at levels 55 per cent cheaper than the industry average.