Shanghai's MiniMax unveils Sora-like text-to-video service

Shanghai-based artificial intelligence company MiniMax has launched a free text-to-video service reminiscent of OpenAI's Sora, capitalizing on the burgeoning trend of text-to-video technology. The move positions MiniMax alongside industry giants such as Microsoft, OpenAI and Runway.

MiniMax's AI technologies now process 3 billion daily AI requests through its own and partner platforms globally. Its AI usage time is at 53 percent of that of ChatGPT, indicating a narrowing gap between MiniMax and the world's leading AI technologies, Yan Junjie, founder of MiniMax, said at an Shanghai event at the weekend.

MiniMax released new video and music generation services at the event.

The video generation service supports both English and Chinese languages, generating six-second videos within a minute. It also supports different styles of video, such as "cartoon" and "cyberpunk" styles.

MiniMax plans to extend the service to support longer videos and customized features such as picture-to-video, according to Yan.

MiniMax's move comes amidst a growing trend of text-to-video technology. However, many leading models including Runway and OpenAI's Sora are either unavailable to the general public or have restricted access.

In China, firms such as Kuaishou and Zhipu.AI have released Sora-like services.

The gap between domestic models and (OpenAI's) GPT-4 is narrowing. While only five AI models will dominate the global market in the future, Yan said at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in July.

Since there are only two, maybe three, US firms at the top of the market – such as Open AI and Google – there is room for Chinese AI models to emerge as top contenders.