Is AI video just a prequel? Runway’s CEO thinks world models are next

AI-generated video has gone from novelty to creative tool almost overnight, and Runway has a front row seat to the shift. The New York-based company has raised close to $860 million at a $5.3 billion valuation, and its models are going toe-to-toe with the most well-funded labs in the world, including Google and OpenAI.  

The technology goes way beyond making videos: Runway is now pushing into general world models with applications in gaming, robotics, and maybe something closer to general intelligence. 

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, host Rebecca Bellan sits down with Runway co-founder and CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela to talk about where video generation goes from here, and why Runway’s ambitions now reach well beyond Hollywood. 

Listen to the full episode to hear about: 

Why Valenzuela thinks the real constraint on filmmaking has never been technology, and what changes when it is 

How Runway thinks about world models differently than Google and other labs building in the space 

What “nonlinear media” means, and why real-time video generation opens up use cases way beyond content creation 

Why Valenzuela pushes back on the idea that AI companions are “inherently dystopian” 

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