Amazon Launches AI-Powered Video Ad Generator for US Advertisers

You can produce video ads in seconds with Amazon's new AI tool - here's how

Originally launched in beta in September, Amazon Ads' Video Generation tool is now publicly available to US advertisers. The process of creating advertisements is becoming a whole lot quicker with the help of generative AI. On Tuesday, Amazon Ads announced that its new Video Generation platform -- initially launched in beta in September -- is now generally available for all US customers. The tool has also been given some technical upgrades. Most notably, its AI-generated videos are smoother and more realistic, and it also generates a series of six different videos, giving advertisers a set of creative options to choose from. A brand selling a coffee mug, for example, might upload an image of their product to the system, which would then generate a series of short videos displaying the product in various contexts: someone taking a sip from the mug as they read a book, maybe, or the cup sitting on a windowsill as the camera pans in front of it. Also: Bing adds OpenAI's Sora video generator - and it's free "Over the last nine months, we've continued to push the boundaries of what's possible, resulting in an enhanced version of Video Generator that creates more sophisticated, high-motion video ads where the product blends seamlessly into the action or scene," Jay Richman, Amazon's VP of product and technology, said in a statement. The idea is to bring still images to life, giving viewers a more dynamic perspective, all while saving brands the time and expenses that traditionally would be required to complete a lengthy ad filming and production process. With that in mind, Amazon Ads is marketing its video-generating tool primarily to small-to-midsize businesses, whose budgets and production timelines are more constrained than their more deep-pocketed competitors. The videos are generated in five minutes or less, and they also come with text animations, background music, and branded logo placement options. AI-generated video has been advancing at a rapid pace recently, as is evident in a short demo video (see link above) for the new Video Generation tool: the AI-generated depictions of people in motion are fluid and lifelike, with none of the unsettling extra fingers that were so prevalent in earlier video-generating models. There are still some glitches, however. If you look closely at the watch depicted in the demo video, you'll notice the numbers on its face are improperly placed or illegible. It's not the sort of detail that most viewers are likely to notice, however, while they're quickly scrolling through product options on their phone or laptop. Most brands would probably reason that such imperfections are worthwhile in light of the savings the tool affords them. Amazon isn't the only major tech brand that's been equipping advertisers with new generative AI tools. Adobe, for example, has been promoting its suite of Firefly models in large part as a new and powerful creative tool for marketing teams. And last week it was reported that Meta is aiming to automate the entirety of the advertising production process. Also: This new AI video editor is an all-in-one production service for filmmakers - how to try it Big tech developers like Amazon and Meta are promoting their generative AI tools as enhancements, rather than replacements, to human creativity. And despite some widely aired speculation in recent years about the supposedly inevitable job losses that will be caused by the proliferation of AI, such large-scale displacement doesn't seem to be happening -- not yet, anyway. Still, the release of Video Generator and tools of its ilk are likely to feed into fears of job displacement among professionals in advertising and other creative industries, no matter how much the companies in Silicon Valley promise that that isn't their intention. You can access Video Generator now through Amazon Ads.

Amazon is about to be flooded with AI-generated video ads

Jess Weatherbed is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews. Amazon is making it easier for sellers to quickly create generative AI ads on its platform, sometimes with just a single click. Amazon Ad's Video Generator, a free advertising tool introduced in beta last year, now has some new tricks and is generally available for sellers in the US to create "photorealistic video assets" in five minutes or less. New capabilities include motion improvements to show items in action, which Amazon says is best for showcasing products like toys, tools, and worn accessories. For example, Video Generator can now create clips that show someone wearing a watch on their wrist and checking the time, instead of simply displaying the watch on a table. The tool generates six different videos to choose from, and allows brands to add their logos to the finished results. The Video Generator can now also make ads with multiple connected scenes that include humans, pets, text overlays, and background music. The editing timeline shown in Amazon's announcement video suggests the ads max out at 21 seconds.. The resulting ads edge closer to the traditional commercials we're used to seeing while watching TV or online content, compared to raw clips generated by video AI tools like OpenAI's Sora or Adobe Firefly. A new video summarization feature can create condensed video ads from existing footage, such as demos, tutorials, and social media content. Amazon says Video Generator will automatically identify and extract key clips to generate new videos formatted for ad campaigns. A one-click image-to-video feature is also available that creates shorter GIF-style clips to show products in action. We'll likely see Amazon retailers utilizing AI-generated video ads in the wild now that the tool is generally available in the US and costs nothing to use -- unless the ads are so convincing that we don't notice anything at all.

Get ready for AI-generated advertisements across Amazon's store

Amazon's chief product officer has gone on record several times saying that "there won't be a corner cut" when it comes to Amazon's products, an endeavor that appears to be necessary. The problem is that this statement has been followed by several rounds of layoffs across the company, and now Amazon is bragging about the arrival of an AI video generator it wants its sellers to use to design advertisements for their products sold on Amazon's store, and frankly, flooding the store with AI ads generated in five minutes or fewer sounds like the exact opposite of not cutting corners, but a hard lean into it. Related How Amazon's streaming strategy is ruining Prime Video The ad-filled streaming platform is alienating many users Posts 8 Amazon thinks AI-generated advertisements are a good idea What customers have always wanted: fake videos of real products Amazon has announced that its free AI video generator is now available to US advertisers (via The Verge), which uses AI generation to create videos of the products that sellers are looking to market across Amazon's store. As you can see in the screenshot above, Amazon is even bragging that six videos (ads) can be generated in minutes, which sure doesn't scream quality in a world where AI still continually hallucinates across competing services. So now that Amazon's reviews are rarely reliable, to the point that a regulator had to get the company to agree to clean up its act in the EU, Amazon users will soon have to contend with AI-generated videos advertising the products they are browsing with no real way to know if what they are viewing is real, or the fever dream of AI, or the calculated plans of a scammer selling a fake product. Close On the flip side, the AI video generator Amazon is offering to sellers should make quick work of whipping up news ads, thanks to new features that make it even easier to see a product in motion, like a watch on an arm. Supposedly, the AI videos will cap out at 21 seconds, with six options to choose from. Sellers can even upload their own real videos to have Amazon's AI tool condense them down to something more marketable. So, from a seller's standpoint, the ability to create ads with ease is surely a welcome one. Ideally, Amazon's new AI-generated video ads will be so good that users won't be able to tell the difference compared to a video recorded of a real product, but it's still hard to see how AI advertisements will help to repair Amazon's reputation. The path seems clear, and further down the slippery slope we fall. AI isn't making things better; it's seemingly making things worse.