Adobe reportedly acquires text-to-video AI platform Rephrase

Because the five-day-long energy wrestle at OpenAI involves an finish with Sam Altman’s reinstatement, Adobe is transferring to up its generative AI game. Based on a report in the Economic Times, the content material software program main has circulated an inside memo asserting the acquisition of California-headquartered text-to-video firm Rephrase.

Whereas the price of the deal stays undisclosed, the transfer is predicted to bolster Adobe’s suite of Artistic Cloud merchandise, which have steadily been getting gen AI upgrades over the previous 12 months. Specifically, Rephrase will assist the corporate empower its prospects with the flexibility to generate professional-grade movies with simply textual content.

Rephrase’s CEO Ashray Malhotra introduced the deal via a post on LinkedIn however solely famous that the corporate has been acquired by a “main tech large” moderately than mentioning the identify of Adobe. When requested for remark, he stated he’s not approved to share extra at this stage.

What does Rephrase carry to the desk?

Based in 2019 by Malhotra, Nisheeth Lahoti and Shivam Mangla, Rephrase offers enterprises with a platform (referred to as Rephrase Studio) the place customers can create professional-looking movies with a digital avatar in minutes. All of the person has to do is select a video template, an avatar of selection with the popular voice and add the content material they should ship. 

As soon as a person hits the render button on Rephrase, the studio routinely pulls collectively all the weather, syncing the script with the avatar. They will make their content material extra pure with extra customization choices, together with the flexibility to resize the avatar, change the background, enhance pauses between phrases or add customized audio. 

Over the past 4 years, the corporate roped in additional than 50,000 prospects and raised practically $14 million from a number of buyers, together with Pink Ventures and Lightspeed India. After making its begin, the corporate’s distinctive promoting level was the flexibility to assist enterprises and influencers create customized avatars to ship personalised enterprise movies, like these that includes their model ambassadors or themselves. 

Now, with the acquisition, these product capabilities and a majority of the Rephrase group will go to Adobe, constructing the corporate’s choices for generative AI movies.

“The Rephrase.ai group’s experience in generative AI video and audio expertise and experience-building text-to-video generator instruments will prolong our generative video capabilities — and allow us to ship extra worth to our prospects sooner – all inside our industry-leading inventive purposes,” Ashley Nonetheless, senior vp and basic supervisor for Adobe Artistic Cloud, wrote within the inside memo cited.

When contacted by VentureBeat, an Adobe spokesperson refused to touch upon the event or how Rephrase’s tooling will complement its product stack.

“Adobe has a robust observe report of accelerating progress via each natural and inorganic innovation. We’re at all times looking out for brand new expertise and expertise that helps our technique and creates extra worth for our stakeholders,” the spokesperson stated.

Adobe has been bullish on AI

Over the previous few months, Adobe has been pushing the bar on generative AI with a number of product updates. First, it launched Firefly, an AI engine for picture era, and integrated it across Creative Cloud products like Photoshop, permitting customers so as to add or take away objects from photos by merely describing the adjustments in phrases. 

Then, final month at its annual Max convention, the corporate showcased a number of experimental generative AI-powered video smarts, together with the flexibility to upscale movies, change their textures and objects with textual content prompts or composite a topic and a scene from two separate movies. It’s not clear when or if these options will make it to a future launch however Rephrase’s digital avatar-based capabilities actually make a very good candidate that might tag alongside.

“These are early days for Generative AI, and early days for the whole lot that we plan to construct in Generative AI. By no means been extra excited to get again to constructing. We’re excited to announce the launch of our new mission,” Malhotra famous in his publish.

For audio and video-related work, Adobe Artistic Cloud, which has been the dominant platform for digital artwork and media for many years, at present presents six essential merchandise: Premiere Professional, After Results, Audition, Character Animator, Animate and Media Encoder. 

It’s utilized by hundreds of thousands of execs and amateurs alike to create, edit and share digital content material and has additionally been the supply of numerous memes, parodies and viral artwork which have formed on-line communities and developments.