TikTok announces image-to-video feature called "AI Alive"

TikTok has announced its first image-to-video AI feature called "AI Alive", allowing users to transform static photos into dynamic videos within TikTok Stories. The new tool leverages artificial intelligence to add movement and effects to still images, further expanding the platform's creative capabilities. Users can access AI Alive through TikTok's Story Camera by tapping the blue plus button on their Inbox or Profile page, then selecting a photo from their Story Album. 

For instance, a photo of a cat could be animated to appear as if it's jumping in an anime-style scene. While the results are generally impressive, some prompts may not always yield accurate outputs.

The launch of the new image-to-video features comes a few years after TikTok introduced an in-app text-to-image AI generator. While both Instagram and Snapchat also offer text-to-image AI features for creators, TikTok is now taking a step further by offering its users the ability to create videos from images. It’s worth noting that Snapchat has said it will soon allow creators to generate AI videos from images.

“We are always building with safety in mind, and the same goes for our AI innovations,” TikTok said in a blog post. “As this technology enables new forms of creative expression, it undergoes multiple trust and safety checks to protect our community. To help prevent people from creating content that violates our policies, moderation technology reviews the uploaded photo and written AI generation prompt as well as the AI Alive video before it’s shown to the creator.”