Meta Platforms has updated its Facebook recommendation algorithm to boost Reels use, adding a topic search filter as well as prioritizing same-day content, with a 50 percent increase in pushing Reels videos posted within 24-hours of user scrolls. In July, Meta said time spent watching videos on Facebook in the United States had expanded more than 20 percent year-over-year, and the company wants to continue boosting that number. Taking a page from the TikTok playbook, Facebook is adding topic search links to Reels displays to help users find material of interest. Facebook is also trying to accommodate user pushback against AI slop by urging use of a “Not Interested” button. Continue reading Meta Updates Recommendation Algorithm for Facebook Reels

Meta Platforms is rolling out Vibes, a short-form AI video generator now in early preview. Using Meta AI, Vibes allows the visually adventurous to create videos from their own ideas or remix existing ones by adding music or changing the style to make it your own. Vibes has its own feed featuring “a range of AI-generated videos from creators and communities.” As you use it, “the feed will become more personalized over time,” according to Meta. Vibes videos can also be cross-posted to Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels or shared with friends via DM. Vibes is available on the Meta AI app and the Web at Meta.ai. Continue reading Meta Previews Its Vibes AI Video Generator for Social Sharing

Google Labs is experimenting with a new AI feature called Mixboard that lets people explore and develop design ideas. Users can visualize concepts ranging from home decor to event themes, or just about anything, for DIY projects or other creative pursuits. New projects can be launched from a text prompt or selected from pre-populated boards and developed by uploading images or using AI to generate them. “Create new versions of your ideas with one-click options like ‘regenerate’ and ‘more like this’,” explains Google, noting you can generate text based on content from any of the board’s images. Continue reading Mixboard: Google Labs Testing Gemini AI Design Tool in Beta

Google wants to heighten the profile of its Veo 3 video generator, and to help do so has named Henry Daubrez, the longtime creative chief at the multidisciplinary Dogstudio/DEPT, filmmaker in residence at Google Labs. In addition to working with the Google team to continue developing the Veo 3-powered Flow AI filmmaking tool, Daubrez will mentor artists in a new pilot program called Flow Sessions. Select filmmakers will get unlimited access to Flow, a subscription product starting at $20 per month, plus mentorship and AI education as part of Flow Sessions. Continue reading Google Pushes Generative Video with Filmmaker in Residence

Moonvalley, the AI startup behind Marey, a high-quality video generator trained exclusively on licensed content, has just put the product in general release. The credits-based subscription pricing ranges from $15 to $150 per month. In addition to ethical training on 1080p native video, Marey also takes a non-traditional approach on its user interface, eschewing prompts for what it says is a more creatively intuitive process. “Directors need precise control over every creative decision, plus legal confidence for commercial use. Today we’re delivering both,” says Moonvalley CEO and co-founder Naeem Talukdar. Continue reading Moonvalley’s Production-Tailored AI Marey Publicly Released

Generative AI program Midjourney has issued V7 in alpha, marking its first new model in almost a year. Notable updates include personalization turned on by default, which users must first set up — a process Midjourney says takes 5 minutes — and can then toggle on or off at any time. Another new flagship feature, Draft Mode, lets users render lower resolution images at “half the cost and 10 times the speed,” according to Midjourney, emphasizing “it’s so fast that we change the prompt bar to a ‘conversational mode’ when you’re using it on Web.” Draft Mode also supports voice prompts. Continue reading Midjourney Launches V7 Image Generator with Voice Prompts

Elon Musk’s xAI has acquired generative video startup Hotshot to bring motion imaging to Grok 3. Released in February, Grok 3 adds Deep Search and Thinking and improved on its predecessor’s still imaging capabilities, but lacks generative video, a much-requested feature — one that could make Grok a freestanding competitor to OpenAI’s individual offerings: ChatGPT for text, Sora for video, and DALL-E for images. “Cool AI video coming soon!” was Musk’s comment to Hotshot’s acquisition announcement on the networking platform. Hotshot can generate clips of up to 10-seconds at 1280×720 pixels. Continue reading With Hotshot Purchase, xAI to Bring Generative Video to Grok

Flora is a new software interface built by AI creatives for creative AI applications. Much like Apple reinvented the personal computer UI to make it feel natural for people who were not IT specialists, Flora aims to reframe the way designers and artists interact with generative AI. “AI tools make it easy to create, but lack creative control,” the startup’s founder Weber Wong says, opining that such tools have proven “great for making AI slop, but not for doing great creative work.” Wong’s goal is to make an AI interface everyone will find comfortable and intuitive, simplifying use and curating “the best text, image, and video models.” Continue reading Flora Is a New AI Interface Geared Toward Helping Creatives

BuzzFeed is launching a new social media platform that aims to fight the tide of content designed primarily to please AI algorithms. BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti described the upcoming service in a “BF Island Manifesto” blog post that blasts SNARF media, an acronym that stands for Stakes, Novelty, Anger, Retention, Fear. “SNARF is the kind of content that evolves when a platform asks an AI to maximize usage,” Peretti writes. “Content creators need to please the AI algorithms or they become irrelevant. Millions of creators make SNARF content to stay in the feed and earn a living.” The nearly 3,000 word manifesto name-checks TikTok and Facebook. Continue reading BuzzFeed Social Platform to Battle Algorithmic Programming

Less than a week after sending tremors through Silicon Valley and across the media landscape with an affordable large language model called DeepSeek-R1, the Chinese AI startup behind that technology has debuted another new product — the multimodal Janus-Pro-7B with an aptitude for image generation. Further mining the vein of efficiency that made R1 impressive to many, Janus-Pro-7B utilizes “a single, unified transformer architecture for processing.” Emphasizing “simplicity, high flexibility and effectiveness,” DeepSeek says Janus Pro is positioned to be a frontrunner among next-generation unified multimodal models. Continue reading DeepSeek Follows Its R1 LLM Debut with Multimodal Janus-Pro

With AI powering a range of new world-building apps, 2025 could be the year the metaverse finally makes an impact. Midjourney joins the world-building club with Patchwork, a collaborate canvas for creating “infinite” fictional worlds. Now in research preview, the tool is being developed as a standalone app, though preview access requires a Midjourney Discord account linked to a Google account. Users are able to connect characters and worlds, and “share” their developing world — evolving as a “board” — with up to 100 collaborative partners on Midjourney (though the company recommends fewer participants for a more focused experience). Continue reading Midjourney Touts Collaborative World-Building App Patchwork

World Labs, the AI startup co-founded by Stanford AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, has debuted a “spatial intelligence” system that can generate 3D worlds from a single image. Although the output is not photorealistic, the tech could be a breakthrough for animation companies and video game developers. Deploying what it calls Large World Models (LWMs), World Labs is focused on transforming 2D images into turnkey 3D environments with which users can interact. Observers say that reciprocity is what sets World Labs’ technology apart from offerings by other AI companies that transform 2D to 3D. Continue reading World Labs AI Lets Users Create 3D Worlds from Single Photo

Midjourney is turning heads with its new image editor, which lets users upload images and then make adjustments. The company’s models — most recently Midjourney 6.1 — accept uploaded images as a reference to use for generative results. Now the Midjourney image editor allows precise adjustments to aspects of the frame. An “image retexturing mode” is also being introduced, as is v2 of its “AI moderator.” The new features are only available to users with yearly memberships, monthly memberships for the past 12 months, or those who have generated at least 10,000 Midjourney images. Continue reading Midjourney Makes Powerful AI Image Editor Available in Alpha

An AI-powered coding app called Cursor is building a fanbase, with everyone from hobbyists to engineers subscribing to the service. The platform reportedly has 30,000 paying customers, among them employees at OpenAI, Midjourney and Perplexity. Referred to as “the ChatGPT of coding,” Cursor uses popular models including GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet to automate building apps and other coding tasks. Cursor was launched by two-year-old startup Anysphere, which has raised more than $60 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive Capital. Continue reading New AI Coding App Cursor Gains Following and $60M in Funds

Google DeepMind has made its latest AI image generator, Imagen 3, free for use in the U.S. via the company’s ImageFX platform. Imagen 3 will be available in multiple versions, “each optimized for different types of tasks, from generating quick sketches to high-resolution images.” Google announced Imagen 3 at Google I/O in March, and in June made it available to enterprise users through Vertex. Using simplified natural language text input rather than “complex prompt engineering,” Google says Imagen 3 generates high-quality images in a range styles, from photorealistic, painterly and textured to whimsically cartoony. Continue reading Google DeepMind Releases Imagen 3 for Free to U.S. Users