Runway ML

Runway (commonly referred to as Runway ML) is an American generative artificial intelligence company specialising in video generation and editing. Founded in 2018 by Cristobal Valenzuela, Anastasis Germanidis, and Alejandro Matamala at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, the company has become one of the most recognisable names in generative video, alongside OpenAI's Sora, Google DeepMind's Veo, Pika Labs, and Kling AI.

History

Runway began as a research project exploring how generative models could integrate into creative software workflows. Early products focused on browser-based tools for image segmentation, background removal, and style transfer. The company was a co-developer of the original Stable Diffusion model in 2022 alongside Stability AI, CompVis, and LAION. It subsequently shifted strategic focus to video, releasing Gen-1 in 2023 for video-to-video stylisation, Gen-2 the same year for text-to-video and image-to-video generation, and Gen-3 Alpha in mid-2024 with substantially improved coherence and motion fidelity. Gen-4, announced in 2025, further extended consistency, character preservation, and scene control.

Products

Runway's primary product is a web application that exposes its models through a unified editor. Capabilities include text-to-video, image-to-video, video-to-video stylisation, video extension, motion brush, camera control, lip-sync, frame interpolation, green-screen removal, inpainting, and a research feature called Act-One that animates characters from a reference video and a target image without motion capture or rigging. Gen-3 Alpha Turbo, released in late 2024, optimises for cost and latency while preserving most quality. Vertical aspect ratios, expand-video reframing, and 3D camera controls were added through 2024 and 2025 updates. Generations can be extended up to 34 seconds in Gen-3 Alpha Turbo, and users can produce videos up to 20 seconds using video-to-video in Gen-3 Alpha and Gen-3 Alpha Turbo.

Use in film and media

Runway models have been used in commercial film and advertising projects, music videos, and short films. The Tribeca Film Festival has partnered with Runway since 2023 to showcase AI-assisted short films. Major studios and brands including Lionsgate and Disney experimental units have publicly disclosed exploratory use of Runway tools. Runway organises the AI Film Festival each year, which has become a recognised venue for short-form generative cinema.

Research

Runway publishes research on diffusion models, latent video generation, controllable generation, and human-AI creative collaboration. Notable contributions include the Stable Diffusion v1 codebase released with CompVis and LAION, research on Gen-3's architecture, and Act-One's performance capture pipeline. The company has raised more than US$300 million from investors including Google, Nvidia, Salesforce Ventures, and General Atlantic, with reported valuations exceeding US$3 billion as of 2024.

Business model

Runway operates a freemium software-as-a-service model with paid tiers for higher credit allocations, longer generations, and commercial-use licensing. Enterprise plans target studios, agencies, and brands. The platform integrates with Adobe Creative Cloud through plugins, and exposes APIs for programmatic use.

Comparisons

Compared with OpenAI Sora, Runway has emphasised iterative editing controls and a creator-focused interface rather than pure generation length. Compared with Pika Labs, Runway offers more advanced character animation. Compared with Google Veo, Runway has a longer commercial track record and broader user base, while Veo has demonstrated longer single-shot durations in research. Compared with Chinese systems including Kling AI and Hailuo, Runway focuses on the United States and European creative markets. Runway has been adopted by Malaysian creative agencies, broadcasters, and brands, though usage is generally individual rather than enterprise-scale. Agencies including Naga DDB Tribal, Leo Burnett Malaysia, and Reprise Digital have produced concept films and pitch materials using Runway Gen-3. Astro and Media Prima have piloted Runway tools for promotional video generation. Tourism Malaysia and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Digital Content Creators Pavilion programmes have showcased Runway-assisted shorts at industry events including the Kuala Lumpur International Animation Festival. Subscriptions are billed in US dollars and processed internationally, which sits within the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 obligations for organisations transferring personal data abroad. Commercial filmmakers must additionally consider Malaysian copyright treatment of AI-generated works; the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) has flagged authorship ambiguity in generative output. The National AI Office has signalled interest in clarifying creative-sector AI rules under the National AI Action Plan 2026–2030. Local universities including ASWARA (the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage), Multimedia University, The One Academy, and Dasein Academy of Art incorporate generative video tools, including Runway, in animation, motion graphics, and film curricula. Malaysian YouTubers, TikTok creators, and independent filmmakers use Runway for stylisation passes, b-roll generation, and visual effects, with HRD Corp Claimable Courses occasionally subsidising vendor-led training in generative video tools.

1. Runway. (2024). Introducing Gen-3 Alpha: A New Frontier for Video Generation. runwayml.com/research.
2. Rombach, R. et al. (2022). High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models. CVPR.
3. Runway. (2024). Act-One: Generating Expressive Character Performances. runwayml.com/research.
4. The Verge. (2024). Runway raises new funding round at US$3 billion valuation. theverge.com.