TikTok launches text-to-video AI tool

👋 Good morning/evening (wherever you are). It’s Monday.

TikTok just rolled out new AI creative updates: image-to-video, text-to-video, and showcase products.

And yet for all its cultural dominance, TikTok is still wildly underrated as an AI platform:

1. Symphony Creative Studio: digital avatars built for UGC ads

2. Seedance 1.0: currently topping T2V and I2V leaderboards on Artificial Analysis

3. Seaweed-APT 2: a real-time streaming model for interactive video

Now they’re layering in native I2V and T2V tools?

If Veo and Kling clips are going viral on TikTok, what’s stopping TikTok from quietly favoring posts that use its own AI tools over those built elsewhere?

Check out the chart below ↓

46% of Gen Alpha uses YouTube, and 90% of them use it daily.

TikTok? Smaller reach at 21%, but nearly the same daily usage — 89% of its users are on every day.

(Gen Alpha refers to individuals aged 15 and under.)

The next generation isn’t just watching AI. They’re growing up inside it.

Switching gears:

From the creator of This Film is Lying comes a new piece that makes you think.

It’s a message every creative needs to hear.

This experimental film explores what happens when "democratizing creativity" becomes a new form of control. 

When platforms that promise to liberate artists are just building prettier cages.

“Gatekeepers disguised as liberators…they flood the feed with demos that say nothing."

Watch it now. Posted on LinkedIn.

OK let’s keep going ↓

Here’s what you should know:

• OpenAI and Microsoft tensions are reaching a boiling point

  OpenAI and Microsoft are at a standoff over the terms of the startup’s $3 billion acquisition of the coding startup Windsurf, the people said. Microsoft currently has access to all of OpenAI’s IP, according to their agreement. It offers its own AI coding product, GitHub Copilot, that competes with OpenAI. OpenAI doesn’t want Microsoft to have access to Windsurf’s intellectual property.

• OpenAI wins $200 million U.S. defense contract

  “Under this award, the performer will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains,” the Defense Department said. It’s the first contract with OpenAI listed on the Department of Defense’s website.

• Google, Scale AI's largest customer, plans split after Meta deal

  Google had planned to pay Scale AI about $200 million this year for the human-labeled training data that is crucial for developing technology, including the sophisticated AI models that power Gemini, its ChatGPT competitor, one of the sources said. Scale AI generated $870m in revenue in 2024, with Google accounting for $150m of its services in that year.

• Nvidia's pitch for sovereign AI resonates with EU leaders

  Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been pitching the idea of "sovereign AI" since 2023. Europe is now starting to listen and act. The concept is based on the idea that the language, knowledge, history, and culture of each region are different, and every nation needs to develop and own its AI.

• Albert Heijn’s new AI assistant is transforming meal planning

  Albert Heijn is a 138-year-old Dutch institution – the nation’s biggest grocery chain, with 1,200 stores. Its five million weekly customers constitute about one third of the population of the Netherlands. Now, to help customers save time and eat healthily, it used Azure AI Foundry to build its own AI assistant, powered by Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models.

• Thousands of UK university students caught cheating using AI

  Many more cases of AI cheating may be going undetected. A survey by the Higher Education Policy Institute in February found 88% of students used AI for assessments. Last year, researchers at the University of Reading tested their own assessment systems and were able to submit AI-generated work without being detected 94% of the time.

• Adobe reveals 3 major AI updates at Cannes Lions

  At Cannes Lions 2025, Adobe unveiled new AI tools to unify creativity, marketing, and customer experiences. Key highlights include GenStudio for ad production, Firefly Services APIs for dynamic content, and an LLM Optimizer to boost brand visibility in AI search.

• AI could accelerate protein engineering

  An AI approach developed by researchers from the University of Sheffield and AstraZeneca, could make it easier to design proteins needed for new treatments.

The numbers:

• Pano AI raised $44M Series B, led by Giant Ventures, to expand its AI-powered wildfire detection systems, now covering nearly 30 million acres and serving 250+ agencies.

• Skild AI, building a general-purpose robotics brain, raised $35M from Nvidia and Samsung at a $4.5B valuation, with backing from SoftBank, Jeff Bezos, and other major players.

• Sedai closed a $20M Series B, led by Atlantic Vantage Point, to optimize cloud environments with AI agents.

• Alta raised $11M to scale its AI stylist, backed by Menlo Ventures and top fashion and tech names.

• Warp raised a $10M Series A to scale its AI‑powered freight logistics network.

• AndrenaM (SpaceX alum) raised $10M seed in just 36 hours for its AI-driven sonar defense tech.

Thought starters:

• Everyone Is Using A.I. for Everything. Is That Bad?

• ‘You cannot stop this from happening’: The harsh reality of the AI job market

• The Model Context Protocol (MCP)

  ⏱️ 19:34 min (YouTube)

• The $100 Trillion Question: What Happens When AI Replaces Every Job?

  ⏱️ 17:37 min video from HBS (YouTube)

• Godfather of AI: I Tried to Warn Them, But We’ve Already Lost Control!

  ⏱️ 90 min interview with Geoffrey Hinton (YouTube)

Meme of the day:

Thanks for reading,

Eddie

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