TikTok is launching its first image-to-video AI feature, the company announced on Tuesday. The new feature is called “TikTok AI Alive” and allows users to turn static photos into videos within TikTok Stories.
The feature is only accessible via TikTok’s Story Camera and uses AI to create short-form videos with “movement, atmospheric and creative effects,” TikTok says.
For instance, if your static photo features a sky, clouds, and the ocean, TikTok could turn the photo into a video where the sky gradually shifts hues, the clouds start to drift, and you hear the sound of waves crashing. Or, you could animate a group selfie that highlights gestures and expressions.
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.
AI Alive stories will have an AI-generated label to notify users that the content was created with AI. Plus, this content will have C2PA metadata embedded, which is a technical standard that helps others identify that the video is AI-generated, even if it’s downloaded and shared beyond TikTok.
“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.”
TikTok notes that people can report videos that they think break the app’s rules and that the app conducts a final safety check once a creator shares an AI Alive story.
Creators can create an AI Alive video by opening the Story Camera and tapping the blue plus button on the top of the Inbox page or Profile page. From there, you can choose a photo from your Story Album. You will then see the AI Alive icon on the right side toolbar on the photo edit page.