Like its rival, Google has rolled out an AI video generator by Amazon. At this point, though, it's limited and only available to advertisers somehow.

At its Accelerate conference today, Amazon revealed Video Generator, which accepts a single product image and can churn out video showcases of that product after some amount of processing. The company claims the tool can curate "custom," AI-generated videos that "showcase a product's features" at no additional cost.

[Videos from Video Generator] tap Amazon's proprietary retail insights to colorfully tell a product story in ways that are meaningful to customers," Amazon writes in a blog post.

"In a statement, Amazon Ads VP Jay Richman said Video Generator, which is currently in beta with select U.S. advertisers (and specifically for Sponsored Brands campaigns), will be honed over the next several months before a broader rollout.".

"Video Generator is just another very meaningful innovation that is harnessing generative AI to inspire creativity and deliver greater value to both advertisers and shoppers," said Richman. "We are working hard to bring generative AI applications to life that empower advertisers to craft visually stunning, high-performing ads."

A related new capability announced today, live image, generates few-seconds-long, animated GIFs from a still frame. Also in limited beta, it's part of Image generator, Amazon's AI-powered image generation suite for marketers.

Amazon did not provide sample footage from Video Generator, and initially revealed very few technical details about the tool and live image.

Late this afternoon, an Amazon spokesperson answered some of TechCrunch's Video Generator-related questions by email.

The clips are 6-9 seconds long at 720p and rendered in 24 frames per second. They're automatically generated "around" a seed product image — "inspired by the product and its details," according to the company's spokesman — and take up to five minutes to generate. Four variations are available for the user to choose from.

All video generators appear to produce uniform output: two screen shots with headlines (for example, "Moisturizing Lavender"), background music, and a call to action. Adjustable font and soundtrack; brand logo appears in the upper-right-hand corner of the frame.

Amazon is going all in on generative video, a move that comes as other players begin to let loose their own video-generating tech. Startups Runway and Luma this month launched generative video APIs, and Google said it's only now starting to integrate its flagship video model, Veo, into YouTube Shorts. Elsewhere, Adobe promised that video generation would come to its Creative Suite platform by the end of the year, and OpenAI is expected to roll out its technology, Sora, in some capacity this fall.

Like any generative AI, there are risks to the use of these tools.

Video-generating models are trained on thousands of examples of videos to "learn" the patterns in these videos to generate new clips. Some vendors train models on copyrighted videos without obtaining permission from owners or creators, and when these models "regurgitate" copyrighted stills, it exposes users of the models to IP lawsuits.

Amazon is one of several companies that, as part of its indemnification policy, have vowed to defend customers accused of violating copyright using media created by its models. We asked the company whether Video Generator and live image are also covered under this policy.

Regardless of how the legal battles play out, one thing is clear: Generative AI is poised to upend the film and television industry in its current state. A 2024 study commissioned by Animation Guild, a union that represents Hollywood animators and cartoonists, estimates by 2026 that more than 100,000 U.S.-based entertainment jobs will be disrupted by generative AI.