A week after OpenAI said it would shutter its artificial intelligence video generator, Sora, rival tools like Kling AI and RunwayML are already gaining ground.
Kling AI, a video generator app owned by China’s Kuaishou Technology, saw global weekly active users jump 4% to an average of 2.6 million last week from the prior week, according to iOS and Android data that market intelligence firm Sensor Tower shared with Bloomberg News.
Even before OpenAI said it would shut down Sora, Kling AI was leading in global monthly active users, averaging 7.8 million in March compared with 4.7 million for Sora. Other apps also saw a bump: RunwayML and Vidu each notched a 1% increase in weekly active users the same week. In another sign of investor confidence in their technology, Runway and Shengshu both raised new funding in February. OpenAI’s decision to discontinue support opens the door for smaller rivals to win users and gain revenue in a niche that’s seeing surging demand from creatives, filmmakers and marketers. Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc. and Elon Musk’s xAI have also included text-to-video and image-to-video capabilities within their respective chatbots in the past year. Those companies don’t break out specific usage numbers for those features. With the exception of Meta’s video generator, which can only be accessed within the Meta AI website or app, most companies offer their video models in developer tools for individual or enterprise use.A college instructor turns to typewriters to curb AI-written work and teach life lessonsNvidia-tied debt deal turbocharges bet on construction of a data center bigger than San Francisco Sora was released as a standalone app to much fanfare last fall, as it attracted users with an easy-to-navigate tool and social features to share their creations with others. Worldwide downloads spiked 4,400% one month after its launch to reach nearly 5 million, per Sensor Tower data. But that popularity proved short-lived. Monthly active users have fallen every month since the start of the year. Sora’s demise also underscores how AI video generators tend to be costlier to run and require far more computing power. OpenAI said it is shutting down Sora to streamline its product road map and shift resources toward robotics research. It has been a small part of OpenAI’s revenue despite being a resource-intensive tool: Sensor Tower said Sora has earned $1.4 million in global net in-app revenue since launch, compared with $1.9 billion in the ChatGPT app over the same period. The retreat of one behemoth may be Kling AI’s gain. A day after OpenAI’s announcement, Kling AI parent Kuaishou told analysts on an earnings call that it expects Kling AI’s annual revenue to more than double this year, after the tool saw revenue increasing to 340 million yuan in the fourth quarter from more than 300 million yuan in the preceding period. The tool has helped boost overall sales of the Beijing-based internet company, which has long been known as a laggard to ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok in short video streaming. Like OpenAI, these rival companies will have to balance user demand with the computing costs of offering such AI tools if they want to avoid a similar outcome. It remains to be seen if Kling AI is enough to help re-accelerate overall growth at Kuaishou, whose stock price target was cut by some analysts who were concerned about returns on its rising AI investments.Exclusive: Environmental group signs deal to buy Golden Gate Fields horse track with plans to create huge new East Bay waterfront park Exclusive: Environmental group signs deal to buy Golden Gate Fields horse track with plans to create huge new East Bay waterfront parkMiss Manners: They won't even set a menu until the guests arriveHarriette Cole: I told the bride no, and now she's chilly toward meAsking Eric: My boss resents me because I won't look the other wayEl Niño is on the way: What that means for California's weather
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