Toys R Us is the first company to use OpenAI’s generative video platform Sora to produce a commercial, or what is being described as a “brand film.” With a running time of 1:06, the spot depicts company founder Charles Lazurus as a young boy, “envisioning his dreams” for the toy store and mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe. It was co-produced and directed by Los Angeles creative agency Native Foreign co-founder Nik Kleverov, who has alpha access to the pre-release Sora. Toys R Us says that from concept to completed video, the project came together in just a few weeks to premiere at the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Read more

Synthesia, which uses AI to create business avatars for use in content such as training, presentation and customer service videos, has announced a major platform update. “Coming soon” with Synthesia 2.0 are full-body avatars that include hands capable of a wide range of motions. Users can animate motion using skeletal sequences on which the persona selected from the catalog can then be automatically mapped. Starting next month, the Nvidia-backed UK company will offer the ability to incorporate brand identity — including typography, colors and logos — into templated videos. A new translation tool automatically applies updates to all languages. Read more

To address Gen Z’s ongoing interest in social video content, Pinterest announced it is updating its app so that users will have the ability to create video versions of the more than 10 billion curated boards on Pinterest. The videos can then be shared on popular social platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. Pinterest users have been using manual methods such as screenshots and green screen effects to share their boards on other apps. According to the company — which refers to this as the “mecore” trend — searches for boards labeled “mecore” jumped 255 percent since last year. The updated approach to board sharing is designed to leverage this growing trend. Read more

Amazon is launching Ad Relevance, a cookieless consumer tracking solution that will be available to those using Amazon DSP, a tool that lets advertisers buy Internet ad placements on and off Amazon’s website. Ad Relevance “uses the latest in AI technology to analyze billions of browsing, buying, and streaming signals in conjunction with real-time information about the content being viewed” to reveal customer shopping patterns and serve relevant ads across devices, channels, and content types without using third-party cookies. The technology accommodates Google’s long-delayed cookie deprecation, currently set for 2025. Read more

Bellevue, Washington-based startup Butterflies AI has created a new social platform that makes artificial intelligence more interactive with humans, allowing people to create customized AIs that generate posts, comments and DMs to which their creators and other humans — as well as other Butterfly AIs — can respond. Anyone using the platform, which has launched publicly on iOS and Android after 5 months in beta, can create their own AI, called a “Butterfly.” The venture, created by former Snap engineer Vu Tran, has raised $4.8 million on Tran’s premise that the public lacks an “interesting” consumer AI product. Read more