Stability AI, the company behind the Stable Diffusion image generator, has released a new image-to-video tool called Stable Video Diffusion that is turning viral memes into animated clips with unsettling results. The tool is currently available only for research purposes to a select invite-only group, according to the source material.
Among the examples circulating online, an animation of the "distracted boyfriend" meme shows the primary man's face glitching while the other woman's face shrinks and then elongates. In another iteration, the man whistles at the woman, and a cardigan appears on her as she turns around. An animated version of the "overly attached girlfriend" meme is smoother than the others but described as more unsettling for it.
The launch comes after a period of turmoil at Stability AI. Ed Newton-Rex, the company's former audio VP, wrote in a blog for Music Business Worldwide that he resigned over disagreements about what counts as fair use in AI training data. Newton-Rex, who invented a royalty-free AI music composer a decade ago, disagreed with Stability's position that using copyrighted material to train its tools is acceptable.
Other executives have also left. In August, Bloomberg reported that Stability's chief information officer, chief operating officer, head of research, and VP of engineering had all departed. The report linked the executive exodus to CEO Emad Mostaque, who has claimed he was an MI6 spy and was revealed in a Forbes exposé to not hold the Oxford degree he said he had attained.
Despite these issues, the video generator has attracted significant attention. The source material notes that Stability "clearly is doing something right if so many people are jumping to use its video generator." The tool remains limited to a select invite-only crowd for research purposes.
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