A new wave of visual content, known among younger audiences as "brain rot," is sweeping social media. It features surreal characters like a shark wearing sneakers or a ballerina with a cappuccino cup for a head.
This trend, which racks up millions of views, now has a technical powerhouse behind it: OpenArt. Founded in 2022 by two former Google employees, the startup already boasts nearly three million monthly active users.
A New Feature Changing Video Production
The company recently launched a beta feature on its openart.ai platform called One-Click Story. It allows anyone to transform a short sentence, a full text, or even a song into a one-minute video with a clear plot from start to finish.
Users can choose from one of three templates: Character Vlog, Music Video, or Explainer Video.
For the Character Vlog template, the process begins by uploading a character's image and adding a description.
For songs, the platform's algorithms analyze the lyrics to build scenes that match the theme, such as a garden of blooming flowers synchronized with the music's rhythm.
Using the storyboard inside the editor, you can modify individual scenes to achieve a more precise result.
The platform leverages over fifty AI models, including DALLE-3, Stable Diffusion, and Imagen, providing greater creative freedom.
While the new feature could make AI-powered video creation more accessible for content creators, it also raises potential legal issues.
During tests, characters like Pikachu, SpongeBob, and Super Mario appeared in some clips, which could expose users to copyright infringement risks.
Co-founder and CEO Coco Mao explained that the system attempts to automatically reject protected characters, but some elements might slip through.
He also affirmed that the company is open to negotiating with rights holders for official licenses.
Maintaining Character Consistency
A key strength OpenArt is betting on is its ability to ensure a character remains consistent throughout the video.
The company sees this as a distinguishing advantage over other models that often produce disjointed scenes. Mao believes the lack of consistency can pull viewers out of the story.
Furthermore, the company is working on enhancing the feature to include scenes with two characters in a dialogue. It also plans to release a smartphone app to reach a broader user base.
OpenArt Subscription Plans
OpenArt operates on a credit-based system.
- Starter Plan: $14/month for 4,000 credits, which includes 4 One-Click videos, 40 standard videos, 4,000 images, and 4 custom characters.
- Hobbyist Plan: $30/month for 12,000 credits.
- Pro Plan: $56/month for 24,000 credits.
A team plan is also available for $35 per member per month.
To date, the company has raised $5 million from investors including Basis Set Ventures and DCM Ventures. It is cash-flow positive and expects its annual revenue to reach more than $20 million.
