Runway Brings Hollywood-Grade Animation to You

Plus, ⚡ How to Create UGC Videos with Higgsfield, 📂 ChatGPT is quietly coming for Excel and PowerPoint, and more!

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🕴️ Runway’s Act-Two Is Bringing AI Animation to Hollywood’s Front Door

Runway has unveiled Act-Two, a major leap in AI motion capture that animates characters using just a video performance and a single image. It improves on Act-One by tracking full-body, facial, and hand movements with far more fidelity. 

The Decode:

1. Animate full characters with just two inputs - Act-Two needs only a “driving video” of a person acting and a static character image or video to create realistic animation. It captures subtle gestures, facial expressions, and upper-body movement from the performance and maps it to your chosen character.

2. Image vs. video input changes control options - When you use a character image, Act-Two lets you control body gestures and adds camera shake or environmental movement automatically. If you upload a character video instead, it maintains the original motion and setting but loses gesture control. 

3. Built-in editing features bring pro-level flexibility - You can fine-tune gesture sensitivity and facial expressiveness to match your creative style and avoid artifacts. Settings like “gesture on/off” allow for precise control of pose mapping, while facial motion can be dialed up or down.

Act-Two makes pro-level animation available to any creator with a webcam and character sketch. As studios like Lionsgate and AMC adopt it behind the scenes, it signals a shift toward AI-powered pipelines in film production. Whether the public’s ready or not, AI is already storyboarding the future.

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⚡ How to Create UGC Videos with Higgsfield

  1. Open UGC Builder: Launch Higgsfield and go to the UGC Builder section.
  2. Pick a Template: Choose a motion style from the Template tab; no need to stick to just one vibe.
  3. Upload Image: Drop in your character photo or Soul ID under the Image tab.
  4. Choose Actions: Set gestures and expressions in the Action tab for dynamic motion.
  5. Add Voice Script: Type your dialogue in Audio Text; it’ll auto-sync with realistic lip movement.
  6. Customize Voice & Background: Fine-tune voice tone in Audio Settings, and pick a background that fits your brand.

Hit Generate: Click Generate and get scroll-stopping UGC in seconds.

📂 ChatGPT is quietly coming for Excel and PowerPoint

OpenAI is reportedly building native support for spreadsheet and presentation formats inside ChatGPT. If executed well, this could shift ChatGPT from a text-based assistant into a full productivity challenger to Microsoft Office.

1. Native Excel and PPT editing may soon arrive in ChatGPT - OpenAI is developing built-in support for .xlsx and .pptx files, letting users open, edit, and generate these formats directly in chat. The formats are open source, so legal barriers are minimal. 

2. A new AI agent could generate reports across public and internal data - OpenAI is also working on an agent that pulls info from public sources or internal company data to auto-generate Excel or PPT reports. This could automate analysis, reporting, and presentation workflows end-to-end.

3. Early testers report major speed and stability issues - A tester said one task took up to 30 minutes, raising concerns about performance under real workloads. OpenAI is also said to be testing real-time collaboration tools, but there's no release timeline. 

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👕 YouWear.aiAI turns ideas into custom apparel designs. Fashion creativity meets on-demand automation.

📱 OnSpace.AIBuild and deploy AI-powered apps instantly. Zero code, zero friction, just launch.

🎨 PicPicAI Enhance portraits with AI precision. Bring out vibrant, detailed visuals in one click.

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📞 Google’s AI can now call pet groomers, auto shops, and dry cleaners to check prices and availability, just hit “Have AI check pricing” and get personalized updates via text or email.

📰 Google’s Discover feed now shows AI-generated news summaries instead of headlines, citing multiple sources but downplaying individual publishers, worrying that news outlets already hit hard by declining search traffic.

🧠 Researchers from OpenAI and Anthropic are calling xAI’s safety practices “reckless,” citing its failure to publish system cards or conduct transparent evaluations after Grok’s antisemitic and hypersexualized behavior.

🇨🇳 Nvidia’s H20 chip return to China is now tied to rare-earth trade talks, with U.S. officials saying it's only the “fourth-best” chip, sparking backlash over tech exports and strategy.

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