Meta tests standalone Vibes app to compete with OpenAI's Sora in AI-generated video space

Meta tests a standalone app for its AI-generated 'Vibes' videos | TechCrunch

Meta is testing a standalone Vibes app, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Thursday. Launched last September, Vibes lets you create and share short-form AI-generated videos and access a dedicated feed that displays AI videos from others. Think TikTok or Instagram Reels, but every single video you come across is AI-generated. Until now, the feed has lived in the Meta AI app. By making Vibes available outside of the Meta AI app, the company is positioning it as a more direct competitor to Sora, OpenAI's AI-generated video and social app that launched shortly after Vibes. "Following the strong early traction of Vibes within Meta AI, we are testing a standalone app to build on that momentum," Meta said in an emailed statement. "We've seen that users are increasingly leaning into the format to create, discover, and share AI-generated video with friends. This standalone app provides a dedicated home for that experience, offering people a more focused and immersive environment. We will look to expand the app further based on what we learn from the community." The news was first reported by Platformer. Meta says it doesn't share specific numbers, but claims Vibes has performed well, with Meta AI usage continuing to grow steadily since its launch, which it believes signals demand for a standalone app. The tech giant also notes that while users engage with content in Meta AI, a standalone app allows for a more focused experience for creation and engagement. Vibes lets users generate a video from scratch or remix a video that they see on their feed. Before publishing, you can add new visuals, layer in music, and adjust styles. You can then post the video directly to the Vibes feed, DM it to others, or cross-post to Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels. Meta says collaboration and sharing are on the rise, with many Vibes videos being messaged to friends, which the company says mirrors how people use Reels. It's worth noting that Meta told TechCrunch last week that, in addition to testing new premium subscriptions across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, it's going to explore subscriptions for AI features, including Vibes. Although Vibes has been free since its launch, Meta plans to offer freemium access to Vibes video creation, with the option to subscribe to unlock additional video creation opportunities each month. Meta plans to launch these test subscriptions in the coming months.

Meta Challenges Sora With Standalone Vibes App | PYMNTS.com

The company is testing an app and positioning it as a direct competitor to OpenAI's Sora app, according to the report. Meta told TechCrunch that the use of Vibes within Meta AI has been growing steadily and that the company aims to build on that momentum by making it a standalone app. "We've seen that users are increasingly leaning into the format to create, discover and share AI-generated video with friends," the company said in the report. "This standalone app provides a dedicated home for that experience, offering people a more focused and immersive environment. We will look to expand the app further based on what we learn from the community." Meta introduced Vibes in September as an AI-powered short-form video feed inside the Meta AI app and on meta.ai. The tool enables users to generate clips from prompts, remix existing videos by altering visuals or music, or rework their own content. The resulting videos can be posted to Vibes or cross-shared to the Meta platforms Instagram and Facebook Stories or Reels. "We're working on even more powerful creation tools and models with a number of talented visual artists and creators and will be rolling these out more widely in the future," Meta said when announcing the feature. A month later, during an October earnings call, Meta reported that Vibes' retention looked good and that the use of the AI creation feature was growing week over week. At that time, people had generated more than 20 billion images with Meta's tools, and media creation in the Meta AI app has risen more than 10x after the launch of Vibes. OpenAI launched its Sora app in September, saying the app allows users to create videos, remix generations, discover videos in a customizable feed and drop themselves into a Sora scene after capturing their likeness in a video-and-audio recording for the "characters" feature. "We think a social app built around this 'characters' feature is the best way to experience the magic of Sora 2," OpenAI said when announcing the Sora app.