This Small Startup’s AI Video Model Just Put Sora 2 to Shame

The battle to win the burgeoning AI-generated-video market is heating up, thanks to a new model from a small but mighty player. Runway, a startup that develops AI models for video generation, has released its new flagship model, named Gen-4.5. The company said in a blog post this new model is a major step up for AI-generated video, especially when it comes to realistic physics and exact instruction following. The model claimed the top spot on independent benchmarking organization Artificial Analysis’s text-to-video leaderboard. Founded in 2018 by students of New York University’s Tisch School for the Arts, Runway has been laser-focused on AI video and has been steadily growing since releasing its first model in 2023. According to The Information, this strategy has paid off; the company hit $80 million in annualized recurring revenue in December 2024, and hopes to hit $300 million in ARR by the end of 2025. But Runway is going up against some of the biggest tech companies in the world, most notably Google and OpenAI, which have developed and commercialized their own AI video models. Runway’s plan to beat these mega-funded foes seems pretty simple: make better models. Runway wrote that Gen-4.5 represents “a new frontier for video generation.” Objects in Gen-4.5 videos “move with realistic weight, momentum, and force,” the company says, with better water and surface rendering. The company also says that details like hair will remain more consistent, and that the model will be able to generate more varied art styles. Altogether, Runway says, these upgrades enable the platform’s users to be much more exacting and detailed about their video generations. The new model is already being used commercially by enterprises, Runway says. Video game distributor Ubisoft, ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, Allstate Insurance, and Target were given early access to the tool. The model is available to paid subscribers and through Runway’s API. Gen-4.5 was both built on Nvidia GPUs and uses that company’s hardware to run, according to Runway. The company wrote that it “collaborated extensively” with Nvidia on the model’s creation. Runway creative principal Nicolas Neubert celebrated the model’s release on X, posting that “Gen-4.5 was built by a team that fits onto two school buses and decided to take on the largest companies in the world. We are David and we’ve brought one hell of a slingshot.” BY BEN SHERRY @BENLUCASSHERRY