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AI and Humanoids

Instant, real-time video AI is now upon us, for better and worse

By Loz Blain
March 19, 2026
Instant, real-time video AI is now upon us, for better and worse
From a still image to video on demand, in less than 1/10th of a second
From a still image to video on demand, in less than 1/10th of a second
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From a still image to video on demand, in less than 1/10th of a second
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From a still image to video on demand, in less than 1/10th of a second

A new real-time video AI model was demonstrated yesterday, capable of generating its first frame in less than a tenth of a second. If you feel like the world's out of control right now and full of AI bullshit, just wait for what's coming.

I'll admit, they're catching me more often lately on social media – newsreel-style videos, dancing Donalds, Michael Jordan saying stuff that Michael Jordan never said, influencers that never existed. I'd pride myself on being reasonably savvy, but the telltale signs of what's generated and what's real are starting to blur.

And as a reeling world struggles to get to grips with that, here comes the next salvo: real-time AI-generated video. Runway has teamed up with Nvidia to present an as-yet-unnamed video model that's under 100 milliseconds from prompt to first frame. The blink of an eye takes between 100-400 ms, for reference.

Demonstrated at Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference, or GTC, in San Jose yesterday, this is the first AI video generation tool that genuinely seems to start streaming instantly in high-definition. So what does that mean?

Well, on the good side, it's definitely a step towards the holodeck-style convergence I've been banging on about for years now, in which we'll be able to interact in real time with characters, situations and worlds of our own choosing. The ultimate video game experience in virtual reality, delivered frame by frame, à la carte, in response to your every whim. Indeed, Runway's one of many companies working on exactly this idea through playable world generation:

GWM Real-time Worlds — Research Demo Day 2025 | Runway

On the bad side ... Well, everything that's now taking you a second glance to spot as AI will at some point start coming at you in real time, tailored to convince or persuade you, generated using real images as a starting point, and potentially capable of reading and responding to your body language in real time. Such a strange world we're constructing for ourselves!

Either way, it'll be a minute yet. Runway's demo was running on Nvidia's Vera Rubin – an AI-focused supercomputer running 36 Vero CPUs, 72 Rubin GPUs, 54 terabytes of CPU memory, 20.7 terabytes of GPU memory, and more teraflops than I'd be comfortable poking a stick at. This thing can probably run Crysis.

A Decade of AI Infrastructure Innovation: From NVIDIA DGX-1 to NVIDIA Vera Rubin

So it's not in the hands of the spammers and scammers yet – but it's absolutely within reach of governments and corporations, and hardware limitations don't tend to remain limitations for long.

Source: Runway

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AI and HumanoidsAI Art and MusicArtificial IntelligenceNVIDIAVideo
8 comments
Loz Blain
Loz Blain
Loz leads the Gizmag, New Atlas and Refractor teams as Managing Director, after nearly two decades as one of our most versatile writers. He's also proven himself as a photographer, videographer, presenter, producer and podcast engineer. A graduate in Psychology, former business analyst and touring musician, he's covered just about everything for New Atlas, concentrating lately on clean energy, AI, humanoid robotics, decarbonization, next-gen aircraft, and the odd bit of music, motorcycles and automotive.

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8 comments
Uncle Anonymous
What frightens me the most about this technology is the more advanced it becomes the easier it will be to fool people.
Rocky Stefano
I have a friend who works in gov. Its typical that whatever is "commercially" available for the common masses, has already been available to the government for ten years."
TechGazer
Yes there'll be problems arising from this, as well as benefits. I'm sure there will be people wanting to throw their figurative wooden shoes into the AIs. Society adapts to change. This is really no different from those early automation technologies, and I'm glad that those early protesters lost their battle to prevent change.
So, what are the potential benefits? Instead of choosing which of the available movies to watch, you could have your entertainment service create a movie on demand, using your preferences for character appearances, vocal styles, etc. First will come personalized versions of existing scripts, followed by personalized scripts.
That's an obvious potential benefit. The surprise ones might be even better.
Wilbur T.
Pandora box has been opened, and it is not going to be pretty.
Captain Danger
So , does anyone think this may be used by the adult entertainment industry?
Venetian
Hollywood fat cats crying into their caviar bowls wishing for the return of the good old days where there was no competition from the unwashed plebs.
IBBoard
I can see a whole heap of abuses with this, and I'm really struggling to see any positives at all. "What if we could create personalised movies on demand!" is a) not in need of near-instant generation and b) one of the worst possible things that could happen to entertainment. There's already too much dross produced that makes it hard to find good shows. Why add mediocre slop that doesn't even have the magic of human creativity?
Definitely a moment for the "Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park" meme.
Techutante
Vtubers are more honest at least