AI-generated “brain rot” videos are increasingly appearing across the internet and capturing significant attention. Popular with younger audiences, these videos showcase quirky characters, such as a shark wearing sneakers and a ballerina with a cappuccino for a head.
One startup leading this trend is OpenArt, established by two ex-Google employees in 2022, now boasting around 3 million monthly active users.
The company has introduced a “one-click story” feature in an open beta phase, enabling users to convert a sentence, script, or song into a one-minute video with a narrative arc. Content generated through this feature can range from light-hearted TikTok stories to serious YouTube explainer videos and even music videos, with potential applications in advertising.
The One-Click Story feature offers three templates: Character Vlog, Music Video, and Explainer. Users can upload a character image and a prompt to create a vlog. For songs, the software interprets the lyrics and generates thematic animations, such as flowers blooming in a garden.
Users can refine individual clips by accessing the editor’s storyboard mode to adjust prompts. The platform utilizes over 50 AI models, allowing selection from tools like DALLE-3, GPT, Imagen, Flux Kontext, and Stable Diffusion.
The new feature aims to simplify entry into AI content creation, which remains popular despite ongoing controversies.
These tools, while beneficial for producing original content, also present ethical challenges such as style imitation, intellectual property issues, and the risk of misinformation.
During testing, it was noted that the Character Vlog option might legally infringe on IP rights due to character types — like Pikachu, SpongeBob, and Super Mario — raising the risk of IP infringement. In June, Disney and Universal sued AI firm Midjourney over AI-generated images.
Users should be aware that videos infringing on copyrights might be removed from social media, and if users contribute to such infringements, they may face legal consequences from copyright holders.
“We try to be cautious around the IP infringement,” Coco Mao, co-founder and CEO, said. “When you upload some IP characters, the models typically reject them, but slips can occur.”
Mao mentioned the company’s openness to discussions with major IP holders for character licensing.
OpenArt prides itself on maintaining character consistency, unlike typical video models that rely on disconnected clips, striving for cohesive visual and narrative experiences.
“A problem that a lot of AI couldn’t really handle well is maintaining character consistency within the same video…Without the same character, immersion in the story is challenging,” Mao explained.
Looking forward, the company plans enhancements for the one-click feature, like enabling conversations between different characters, and developing a mobile app.
OpenArt operates on a credit-based model with four plans. The basic plan costs $14 monthly for 4,000 credits, which includes up to four One-Click stories, 40 videos, 4,000 images, and four characters. The advanced plan is $30 monthly for 12,000 credits, featuring up to 12 One-Click stories. The Infinite plan costs $56 monthly for 24,000 credits, and there’s also a team plan at $35/month per member.
OpenArt has raised $5 million from Basis Set Ventures and DCM Ventures, reports positive cash flow, and is on track for an annual revenue of over $20 million.