Few companies have made as significant an impact on the creative sectors as Runway has. As a beacon of innovation in generative AI, Runway has carved out a reputation for transforming art, entertainment, and human creativity.
At the helm of these groundbreaking endeavors is Anastasis Germanidis, the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Runway, who has played a pivotal role in shaping the future of creative technologies.
Recently recognized by Time Magazine as one of the "100 most influential companies" in 2023, Runway continues to be at the forefront of the AI revolution, creating tools that enhance the capabilities of creatives worldwide and redefining what is possible in storytelling and artistic expression.
In this exclusive interview, Anastasis shares his journey from the inception of Runway at NYU’s ITP program, alongside co-founders Cristobal and Alejandro, to the cutting-edge developments that continue to push the boundaries of computational creativity.
Psst. Anastasis will be at our summit in Boston.
Why not get your tickets and attend his talk?
Please introduce yourself and briefly introduce your journey leading up to this point with Runway.
I met my two co-founders, Cristobal and Alejandro, at NYU’s ITP program in 2016. Our shared curiosity about the potential of computational creativity led us to build tools for our peers—we wanted to build tools that let them interact with what was, at the time, an emerging technology, and that’s ultimately how Runway was originally born.
Today, we are a full-stack, applied AI research company that builds generative AI systems and tools for creatives of all backgrounds.
Runway has become a pioneering platform in creative AI tools. What was the company's original vision, and how has that evolved?
Being artists ourselves, we started Runway as a company for artists by artists. That vision has been central to our ethos since the very beginning and remains true today.
As our research and capabilities have continued to advance over the last few years – most recently with the release of our newest foundational model, Gen-3 Alpha – our original vision has remained the same: we’re enabling new ways of bringing stories to life and opening doors for new storytellers.
Runway’s tools empower creatives to work with AI in previously unimaginable ways. What are the most exciting use cases that have emerged from your platform?
Everyone, from Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies to freelancers, marketers, and Hollywood studios, uses our tools to tell new types of stories and streamline workflows.
The generative AI landscape is growing rapidly. In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the industry today?
When we started Runway back in 2018, we were some of the only ones building in this space, so it’s been incredible to see the advancements we’ve made as an industry in the last couple of years and to see the creativity that these tools have unlocked for artists.
That said, we're still very early in the lifecycle of these tools, and there is a lot still to be built and unlocked, especially when it comes to further improving quality and introducing new control mechanisms.
Something our team is currently focused on that will continue to unlock creativity is the development of General World Models – these are systems that understand the visual world and its dynamics. Gen-3 Alpha has been a major step toward this goal, but it’s still very early.
How do you see the relationship between human creativity and AI evolving over the next few years? Will AI enhance human creativity, or do you foresee it changing creative industries in more fundamental ways?
The history of art has always been deeply intertwined with the history of technology. As our technical capabilities continue to expand, the tools will continue to expand, but they’ll always be in the service of human artists and creators.
Runway is at the forefront of generative AI for creators. What innovations or features can users expect shortly that will further transform their workflows?
Gen-3 Alpha is the first and smallest of upcoming models and a major step toward building general world models, but there’s still more work to be done. For example, the model can struggle with complex character and object interactions, and generations don’t always follow the laws of physics precisely.
General world models will aim to represent and simulate a wide range of situations and interactions, like those encountered in the real world, and we’ll continue to build towards that future.
Looking ahead, what excites you the most about the future of generative AI, both in terms of its potential for creativity and broader applications?
Generative AI is still incredibly young, and we’re discovering new use cases daily. We recently announced a partnership with Lionsgate Studios, marking a significant milestone in the collaboration between AI and Hollywood and unlocking new opportunities to evolve workflows and offer brand-new tools to the entertainment industry.
Want more from Anastasis?
He'll be at our summit in Boston this month on October 17.
His talk on 'Shaping the next era of art, entertainment and human creativity' will be invaluable.
