Text to video stories

Jul 31, 2026

ByteDance and MiniMax release competing AI video models within hours

ByteDance released Seedance 2.5 generating 30-second video clips with native audio, while MiniMax launched H3 producing 15-second 2K clips with stereo audio. The near-simultaneous releases underscore China's aggressive advances in AI video generation.

Jul 31, 2026·4 sources

Chinese AI firm MiniMax launches H3 multimodal video generation model

MiniMax released its H3 video-generation model capable of processing text, images, video and audio, intensifying competition in China's AI video generation market currently led by ByteDance and Kuaishou.

Jul 31, 2026·1 source

Jun 22, 2026

ByteDance unveils Seedance 2.5 AI video model with 30-second generation capability

ByteDance announced Seedance 2.5 at its Volcano Engine FORCE conference on June 23, 2026, introducing an AI video generation model capable of producing 30-second clips from up to 50 reference materials, set to launch in early July.

Jun 22, 2026·7 sources

Mar 24, 2026

OpenAI shuts down Sora app and API, Disney exits partnership

OpenAI announced it is shutting down its Sora video generation app and API just months after launch. Disney has walked away from the billion-dollar partnership the companies signed in December 2025 following the shutdown.

Mar 24, 2026·4 sources

Top claims

▪H3 trails Google's Gemini Omni Flash in text-to-video tasks and ranks behind ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 and Gemini Omni Flash in image-to-video capabilities.
▪The H3 weights will be released under the MiniMax Community License, allowing free non-commercial use and commercial use for firms with under US$20 million in annual revenue.
▪ByteDance released Seedance 2.5, an AI video model that generates video and audio in a single pass.