China’s Most Popular AI App Doubao by ByteDance Now Creates Lifelike Videos with Text-to-Video AI

ByteDance Pushes Doubao Takes the Lead in Generative AI

ByteDance is venturing deeper into the rapidly expanding generative AI space in China with its chatbot Doubao, which is now adding the ability to create video content.

The company’s latest move comes as it intensifies efforts to dominate the fast-growing generative AI market, which has already drawn heavy competition.

Doubao, powered by a large language model (LLM) similar to ChatGPT, has rolled out a new feature that can convert text or images into realistic video clips, thanks to its impressive semantic understanding capabilities.

Currently, this feature is being tested by a select group of early adopters.

Video Creation: Doubao’s New Feature in Testing

The new video-generation feature enables users to create lifelike videos from written prompts or images.

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According to the app’s description, the tool supports advanced camera movements and a range of artistic styles, enhancing the creativity of video production.

Early users have had access to these innovations, which signal ByteDance’s determination to capitalise on the growing demand for AI-driven video content creation tools.

Doubao’s Market Dominance in China

Doubao's recent rise to the top of China’s AI app market reflects ByteDance’s growing strength in this field.

Aicpb.com, a site that tracks global AI app usage, ranked Doubao as the most popular AI app in China last month.

Besides being the most popular in China, Doubao secured the second spot as the most popular AI app worldwide last month, just behind ChatGPT.

This success has positioned ByteDance as a key player, despite the company's initially slow adoption of LLM technology.

Even though ByteDance was late to build LLMs, its embrace of AI in content recommendation helped it catch up quickly.

How ByteDance is Boosting Its Generative AI Ambitions

ByteDance’s recent focus on generative AI follows some internal pressures within the company.

Earlier in 2024, CEO Liang Rubo expressed dissatisfaction with the company’s pace in responding to new technologies.

He pushed employees to accelerate efforts in the AI field, which spurred the launch of several AI-driven tools, including the video-editing app CapCut.

In February 2024, Kelly Zhang Nan, the CEO of TikTok’s Chinese counterpart Douyin, stepped down from her role to focus more on CapCut, stating that “AI technology will substantially disrupt content creation.”

Her departure highlights the company’s growing commitment to AI development.

CapCut and Doubao’s Global Success

ByteDance’s AI tools, CapCut and Doubao, both achieved significant global success, outpacing even OpenAI’s ChatGPT in downloads by July 2024, according to industry report data from Unique Capital.

This success highlights ByteDance’s strategic positioning as a global leader in AI-powered video editing and content creation.

The company’s ability to adapt quickly to generative AI has allowed it to maintain a competitive edge in this increasingly crowded market.

Who’s Gaining Ground in AI Video Creation?

Despite ByteDance’s leading position, the company is not without competitors.

Kuaishou Technologies, another Chinese tech giant, launched its own AI video-generation platform, Kling, in June 2024, making it China’s first major tech company to offer such a service.

Start-ups like Zhipu AI and Shengshu AI quickly followed suit in July, each offering their own video-creation tools.

As the market becomes more competitive, ByteDance will need to continuously innovate to retain its position at the forefront.

China’s AI Video-Creation Market is A Billion-Dollar Opportunity

Research firm LeadLeo forecasts that China’s AI-assisted video-creation market will be worth 9.3 billion yuan (around US$1.3 billion) by 2026.

With its strong AI portfolio, ByteDance is well-positioned to capture a significant share of this growing market.

However, the race remains competitive, and only the companies that can offer superior products and features will dominate in the long term.

ByteDance’s aggressive expansion into generative AI, particularly with its new video creation tools, signals a pivotal shift in the digital content landscape.

With its popular apps and strong focus on advanced technology, ByteDance is set to transform how content is created and enjoyed in China and around the world.