For many years, creators needed a video camera to tell their stories. Thanks to developments in artificial intelligence, all you need is your imagination. And with generative AI, the storytelling possibilities are endless.Runway is giving you more ways to tell your story with the launch of Gen-2, its text-to-video AI model. Continue reading to learn more about Runway's Gen-2 and what it can do.

Runway Is Launching Its Gen-2 Text-to-Video AI Model

In February 2023, Runway launched Gen-1, an AI model that uses effects to create new videos from existing ones. Just a few weeks later—on March 20, 2023—Runway officially announced Gen-2.

Runway's Gen-2 is a step up from Gen-1. It's a generative AI solution that allows users to create dreamy videos from mere words, images, and their own videos. With Gen-2, Runway improves its customization options and produces higher-fidelity videos. But the main difference is that users can create videos from scratch—you don't need a reference image or source video.

Generative AI is not a new concept. So much impressive artwork has been created using the best free AI text-to-art generators. The model is gaining traction as more people familiarize themselves with it and share their work on social media. A quick glance at Runway's Twitter account will show you just how excited people are to share the masterpieces they created using its products.

What Can Gen-2 Do?

Content creation and AI tools keep improving with each passing year. When you merge the two, you give birth to endless possibilities. That's exactly what Runway's Gen-2 does, with an emphasis on making movies.

Gen-2 has various modes to help kick-start your movie—below are the first three.

  • Text-to-video: Imagine a scene and bring it to life by describing it with text.
  • Text and image to video: Turn a reference image into a beautiful motion picture. Think of yourself as a director, the image as your subject or the actor, and Gen-2 as the cameraman. Gen-2 will treat the shot exactly how you instruct it to.
  • Image-to-video: Upload a reference image to create a video inspired by it. This mode works similarly to websites that turn photos into GIFs, but better because you can breathe life into old photos, and do so much more.

Stylization mode allows you to be the stunt double in your own movie or use existing choreography to inform the moves in your next music video. Instead of using text to describe the movement you want to translate, use a prompt or image for more accurate results.

Inspiration is everywhere. Storyboarding allows you to unleash the true potential of mockups by turning them into stylized videos.

You won't always create videos from scratch. Sometimes, you may want to change a few things in an existing video. Masking mode allows you to isolate and edit specific elements to better align the video with your goals, like changing someone's hair color.

When working with a low budget, you can create realistic videos using existing plain ones. Add greenery, water, and so much more with Gen-2's Render mode. Finally, Customization mode—create more accurate results using prompts to customize your model.

Artificial Intelligence Is Constantly Improving

Forget animation—generative AI is the gift that keeps on giving. No one could have imagined you'd be able to create movies from nothing using just your computer. If recent developments are anything to go by, the future looks bright for the media, AI, and content creation spaces.