ByteDance expands into text-to-video market with new AI tool

ByteDance has added a new tool to its spectrum of offered software: turning text prompts into videos.

It allows entry into a new market and joining a long list of companies, including OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT.

A new tool, Jimeng AI—developed by ByteDance's Faceu Technology—is now available to Chinese users via the App Store, following its release on Android on July 31.

It's reportedly the latest in a series of similar text-to-video technologies launched by several Chinese tech companies.

The move by ByteDance comes at a time when the Chinese tech sector has been witnessing a chain of recent developments, right after another major video app from China, Kuaishou, opened up its Kling AI text-to-video model to global users late last month.

Its beta version requires only an email address to sign up.

Meanwhile, a Chinese AI startup named Zhipu AI released a video generation model last month. Another startup, Shengshu, then rolled out the Vidu app weeks later.

Faceu Technology belongs to the Jianying division of ByteDance, which also owns the popular video editing app CapCut.

The user explained, "Jimeng AI offers different subscription options: $9.65 a month, $11.04 for a single month or $92.08 annually. All plans come with about 2,050 images or 168 AI videos a month.".