About this project
The field of generative AI video and filmmaking is evolving rapidly, with each successive generation of video models bringing greater realism and more powerful tools, as well as new ethical concerns.
To appreciate how fast generative AI video is evolving, I wanted to look back at some of the milestones, such as news, model releases, festivals, and, most importantly, the creative work from the community that impacted me the most.
As I assembled the examples and milestones for this project, it was fascinating to visually see the evolution of generative video from its early days (just a few years ago) to the present.
This project is not meant to be a comprehensive history of all AI usage in film, nor an encyclopedia of every AI film ever made, but rather a collection of notable examples that have had an impact (at least for me) on the creative community and on the portrayal of AI in popular culture. I also include some of the animated shorts I created using different models throughout the eras.
I hope this project gives everyone a chance to pause and reflect for a few minutes, and to appreciate the incredible work by so many talented creators.
A special thank you to Runway for inspiring me to be part of this community.
— Rich Klein (@richkleinai)
How entries are chosen
Every entry is added by hand: model releases, landmark films, festivals and contests, viral moments and industry news, each with its date, the people credited, the models used and links back to the original sources. Films are chosen for what they showed the community was possible at the time, not for view counts.
Know a film or event that belongs here? Suggest an entry. New entries also appear in the feed, and every entry, artist and workflow page has a plain-text version for research tools (add .md to its address).