# Grok Imagine Video 1.5

- Date: 2026-06-16
- Type: model
- Credit: xAI
- URL: https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/grok-imagine-video-1-5

xAI's second-generation video model, generally available on June 16 after a short preview. It turns a still image into a clip with sound effects, ambience and lip-synced dialogue generated in the same pass, with steadier motion and more believable weight than [Grok Imagine 1.0](https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/grok-imagine-1-0), and a Fast version that makes a six-second 720p clip in about 25 seconds. It took the top spot on the Image-to-Video Arena leaderboard at launch, ahead of Sora 2, Veo 3.1, Seedance 2.0 and Kling, at a price well below Sora 2 Pro, arriving weeks after OpenAI had [shut down the Sora app](https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/sora-discontinued).

On July 31 xAI added what filmmakers needed for continuity: up to seven reference images per generation to lock a face, a product or a location, a voice reference so a character keeps the same voice from scene to scene, text-to-video and native 1080p. In October a Lite tier dropped the price to two cents a second. Together with xAI's [Odyssey contest](https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/grok-odyssey-contest) in August, 1.5 made Grok Imagine a real contender alongside Seedance, Kling and Veo.

Links:
- xAI: Grok Imagine Video 1.5: https://x.ai/news/grok-imagine-video-1-5
- xAI: Imagine Video 1.5 with References (Jul 31): https://x.ai/news/grok-imagine-video-1-5-references
- Tech Times: tops the video leaderboard: https://www.techtimes.com/articles/318635/20260618/grok-imagine-video-15-goes-live-xai-tops-ai-video-leaderboard-86-percent-below-sora.htm
- The Decoder: preview launch: https://the-decoder.com/xai-updates-grok-imagine-to-1-5-with-image-to-video-generation-at-720p-resolution/

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Source: https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/grok-imagine-video-1-5
Era: 2026 · The Shakeout
Last updated: 2026-10-12