TikTok Unveils ‘AI Alive’ to Turn Photos Into Animated Videos in Stories

Highlights

• TikTok’s first image-to-video AI tool named AI Alive exclusively available in Stories.
• It animates photos with movement, colours and effects, making them feel more dynamic.
• All AI Alive-generated videos carry an AI label and C2PA metadata, ensuring transparency.
• Users can find AI Alive in the Story Camera toolbar.

TikTok has launched a new AI-powered feature called “AI Alive” that transforms regular photos into animated short videos. The company announced the update via a TikTok Newsroom post, calling it its first image-to-video AI tool. It’s available exclusively through TikTok Stories using the Story Camera.

According to TikTok, the feature uses AI to add “movement, atmospheric and creative effects” to your still images. So, if you upload a photo of the sky, clouds, and ocean, TikTok might animate it with drifting clouds, shifting colours in the sky and background wave sounds.

Caption – New TikTok AI Alive feature can Turn Photos into Videos for stories. (Image credit – TikTok)

You can even use it to bring a selfie to life with animated gestures or facial expressions.

This comes a few years after TikTok introduced its in-app text-to-image AI generator. While platforms like Instagram and Snapchat already offer text-to-image tools, TikTok is going a step further by letting users turn photos into videos. That said, Snapchat has also announced plans to offer AI-generated videos from images soon.

All AI Alive videos will carry an AI-generated label and TikTok is embedding C2PA metadata into the content. This helps others identify that the video was made using AI, even if it’s downloaded and shared outside of TikTok.

TikTok also highlighted the safety measures in place. “We are always building with safety in mind, and the same goes for our AI innovations,” the company said in a blog post.

The company explained, “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.”

To try out AI Alive, open the Story Camera by tapping the blue plus button on your Inbox or Profile page. Select a photo from your Story Album, then look for the AI Alive icon on the right-side toolbar to start animating.

FAQs

Q1. What is TikTok’s AI Alive feature?

Answer. AI Alive is TikTok’s first image-to-video AI tool, available exclusively in Stories. It animates photos with movement, colour changes and background effects.

Q2. How does TikTok ensure safety and transparency with AI Alive?

Answer. All AI Alive videos carry an AI-generated label and C2PA metadata, helping users identify AI-made content. TikTok moderates uploads to prevent policy violations.

Q3. How can users access AI Alive on TikTok?

Answer. To try AI Alive, open the Story Camera, select a photo, and tap the AI Alive icon on the right-side toolbar to animate the image with AI effects.

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