Latest news with #Hailuo
Tom's Guide
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
This AI video generator is going viral, and it's completely free to use
AI video generators are having a bit of a moment. Whether it's Google's Veo 3, complete with audio integration, or something like Kling 2 or Runway that are creating movie-quality clips with ease, the technology has come a long way. But along with the big-name companies vying for the best AI video generator, there are some smaller underdogs of the AI video world. One that recently caught my eye was Hailouai. I kept seeing videos generated by the model popping up on sites like X, with users showing off their impressive generations. This isn't the first time we've talked about Haliuo, in fact, we were impressed by a major update it revealed late last year. But the AI company is back in people's minds with its most recent updated called the Director model. In this version, like a few other big AI video generators, you can input camera angles and movements, to give your videos a bit more action. This new update gives users on Hailuo a bit more control over what they are producing. It allows for the alteration of camera angles in prompts in two ways. Users can either choose from a pre-selection of options like 'downward tilt' or 'right walking' or they can come up with their own. Like most video generation experiences, creativity can either reward or hinder you. Sometimes, getting too complicated with camera angle suggestions resulted in a complete mess of an experience, or the model would ignore it completely. I found more success when using Hailuo by focusing on the options I had been given. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. You can choose to either make a video from scratch with a text prompt or use an existing image that you want to edit. You can also add an image of someone and ask for them to be dropped into a scene. This option comes with an incredibly long list of warnings about use of that image and follows the same concerns that come with deepfakes on any platform. All of this technology can be found in competitors like Runway, Kling and Higgsfield. One of the major benefits of Haliuo is how good the free version of its software is. The load times are slightly slower, and you are still limited in credits, but that limit is pretty high. You will be able to get 20 to 30 videos generated before you near the end of your credit limit and there are ways to get more without having to sign up for a paid plan. However, on the free plan, your images and videos will have watermarks on them - something to keep in mind if you plan to use these videos commercially. Once you've made an account on Hailuai, you'll land on the homescreen. You should have roughly 1,000 credits at this point. Videos cost around 30 credits and images just 1. On the left hand side there are four ways to interact with the AI generation. For this particular activity, we want the 'create video' section. Here, you can choose to turn images into video, text to video or input your subject reference (an image of a person to edit). Most importantly here, you want to change your model at the bottom to T2V-01-Director to add the camera angles change. Then, by clicking the small camera in the bottom right corner, you'll be able to choose the camera angle style for your video. Once that's all selected, and you've put your prompt in, click the generate button in the bottom right. It will take a few minutes to generate but compared to other free video generators is actually quite fast. This isn't the best AI video generator on the market, but considering how good its free plan is (and then how affordable the paid plans are) its a great choice for those not wanting to fork out large amounts of money to generate a few videos. Hailuo offers all of the same features you'd see in leading models and, quite frankly, in some ways more. You can even ask Deepseek for assistance on your prompt directly from the Hailouai app. With such stiff competition in this market, Hailoai is keeping up surprisingly well with the likes of OpenAI and Gemini, even offering the ability to add sound (at the expense of more credits of course).
Forbes
28-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
One More Nail In The Coffin Of Ad Agencies
Are production sets like this a thing of the past? Brands&People In a major shift for the creative industry, Microsoft recently launched an ad for its Surface line that was almost entirely created by artificial intelligence. Using tools like Hailuo and Kling, the design team generated every scene except for a few human close-ups, such as hands typing. The ad ran for three months without anyone noticing it was AI-made, proving Shelley Palmer's insight: "If you cannot tell the difference, there effectively is no difference." This milestone highlights a critical transformation in how brands create content. As Palmer smartly frames it, creative work now falls into two categories: "required" content, practical, executional work increasingly handled by AI, and "inspired" content deeply human storytelling still beyond AI's full reach. Microsoft's Surface ad achieved a 90% reduction in time and cost while maintaining broadcast-quality standards. For brands and agencies alike, this signals an urgent need to rethink how creativity is produced, valued, and rewarded. When I led strategy at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, one of the most decorated creative agencies in history, we focused intensely on unpredictable human creativity. Later, at Victors & Spoils, we pioneered open talent models, demonstrating that creativity could survive and thrive in new structures. In my book Open Talent, I argue that embracing open networks and AI-driven collaboration doesn't diminish creativity; it liberates it, amplifying human potential by automating required content. The implications are clear: AI can now efficiently handle the "required" creative work, freeing human teams to focus on the "inspired" work that moves hearts and builds brands. However, the economic efficiencies AI brings are already compelling brands to recalibrate their balance between human creativity and machine-driven execution. Brands now have the opportunity to fundamentally rethink their creative strategies. First, it's no longer necessary or financially wise to pay for agency overhead. Freelancers, empowered by AI tools and connected through emerging platforms like Hence Creative, can deliver exceptional results with greater agility and at a fraction of the cost. The bloated agency model is giving way to streamlined, open networks that prioritize speed, innovation, and return on creative investment. Second, companies must recognize the opportunity to automate and streamline their required content. AI can rapidly generate high-quality, functional creative assets, enabling brands to reduce costs and reallocate resources toward more strategic and emotionally resonant initiatives. This shift is not about replacing creativity; it's about reclaiming the time and space for deeper innovation. At the same time, AI's ability to handle routine creative tasks allows human teams to focus on what matters most: inspired storytelling. Freed from production-heavy demands, creative professionals can push boundaries, explore cultural narratives, and forge the emotional connections that truly engage audiences. In this new era, the brands that thrive will be the ones that understand creativity as more than content; they'll see it as a profound emotional dialogue with consumers. Finally, brands must adopt an open talent mindset. AI reaches its greatest potential when paired with diverse human insights. By tapping into a global pool of freelance and independent talent, brands can access broader perspectives, richer ideas, and faster innovation. AI isn't a competitor in this model; it's a collaborator, amplifying the capabilities of a dynamic, distributed creative workforce. Ultimately, the adoption of AI-generated content might spell the end of traditional ad agencies that cling to outdated structures. Those unwilling to evolve will find themselves struggling to survive. But those who embrace AI as a tool for enhancing human creativity, blending technology with diverse, open networks of talent, will lead the next wave of storytelling innovation. The future of creativity won't be built behind the walls of traditional agencies. It will emerge from open ecosystems, where humans and machines collaborate, liberated from legacy systems, and ready to meet a new era of brand building.
