Today, Runway is excited to announce that their latest breakthrough, the GWM-Worlds, represents a new era of interactive project creation. This never-before-seen world model opens doors to user-generated experiences that excite and engage, creating realistic, exhilarating, table-shaking fun. It helps strengthen Runway’s competitive position as the video technology landscape advances at lightning speed. In addition to GWM-Worlds, the company has introduced two specialized versions: GWM-Robotics and GWM-Avatars, each catering to specific user needs.
The GWM-Worlds app allows users to create interactive projects that include native dialogue and background audio, enhancing the overall experience. This launch follows the earlier release of Runway’s Gen 4.5 model. Most notably, it opened up cool features such as shooting elaborate shots from multiple angles – a major game changer for users looking to push their creative possibilities.
Runway’s democratization moves are a shot across the bow, a good strategic response to their competition, especially Kling, which provides the all-in-one video suite. The recently released Gen 4.5 update has provided Runway with an incredible charge. It has now overtaken both Google and OpenAI on the Video Arena leader board. These new features help users create one-minute videos with character consistency, a key component of engaging storytelling.
You can now build with Runway’s GWM-Robotics via software development kit (SDK). This SDK gives developers the right capabilities to include robotic functionalities into their projects. GWM-Avatars is particularly concerned with producing lifelike avatars capable of mimicking human action and reaction, creating a deeper and more meaningful engagement with users.
The world model has a performance target of 24 frames per second (fps) at a 720p resolution. This configuration ensures optimal, high-quality production for almost any application. The GWM-1 world model is remarkable for its generality, beating competitors such as Google’s Genie-3. This strategic benefit may give Runway a substantial lead over competitors across the industry.
Anastasis Germanidis, Chief Technology Officer at Runway, described how foundational models allow for the construction of complex systems.
“To build a world model, we first needed to build a really great video model. We believe that the right path to building a world model is teaching models to predict pixels directly is the best way to achieve general-purpose simulation. At sufficient scale and with the right data, you can build a model that has sufficient understanding of how the world works,” – Anastasis Germanidis
The launch of GWM-Worlds is a perfect complement to Runway’s mission of advancing what’s possible in creative technology. Runway isn’t merely trying to stay ahead of the industry innovation curve. By incorporating features such as native dialogue and background audio, they are really pushing the envelope and innovating.