Anticipating what one outlet calls “the likely imminent release of OpenAI’s Sora,” generative AI video competitors are compelled to step up their game. Luma AI has released a major upgrade to its Dream Machine, speeding its already quick video generation and enabling a chat function for natural language prompts, so you can talk to it as with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In addition to the new interface, Dream Machine is going mobile and adding a new foundation image model, Luma AI Photon, which “has been purpose built to advance the power and capabilities of Dream Machine,” according to the company.

Among those who will benefit are “creatives, designers, and visual thinkers” doing everything from “directing cinematic stories to visualizing product ideas,” Luma AI explains in an announcement.

“We are training the next generation of intelligence that goes far beyond language models and is rich in context, and highly visual,” Luma AI co-founder and CEO Amit Jain said, noting Dream Machine will sit atop this new “creative intelligence.”

“When Dream Machine launched in June it was a massive step up on the previous generation models, offering faster generations, minimum 5-second clips, and better motion,” with features like looping, prompt enhancement and keyframes added shortly thereafter, explains Tom’s Guide, detailing “unique features that other platforms are only just starting to catch up with, including being able to set a first and last image to steer the generation of the video.”

Photon improves the text-to-video model by adding image-to-video. Users can now “describe their ideas in natural language or provide reference images to guide the platform’s outputs,” writes VentureBeat, emphasizing that “unlike traditional prompt engineering, which requires precise and technical input, Dream Machine is built for intuitive interaction.”

New features include Brainstorm, which lets users apply different styles to images and video, and Concept Pills, indicated by oval highlights that appear around certain words in a prompt description, that highlight elements that can be modified with similar concepts, Luma explains. Boards & Ideas are two ways to collect and share material related to projects or concepts.

For both desktop and iOS users, Dream Machine is now being offered on a free tier as well as by monthly subscription, “including a hobbyist tier priced at $9.99, an explorer tier that costs $29.99 per month and a professional tier for $99.99,” reports SiliconANGLE, noting “there is also an enterprise tier, which pricing was not disclosed.”

“Now, with more than 25 million registered users, the company believes some customers will pay for additional support and features,” writes the tech blog thelettertwo, detailing what’s in each price tier.

Luma AI also announced a new Photon Image API that will be released in Q4 so developers can use the model to build apps.