Kling AI, the current king of AI-powered video generation, just got a big 1.5 upgrade that maker Kuaishou no doubt hopes will put some distance between Kling and the presumptive 800-pound gorilla soon to enter the competitive space: OpenAI’s upcoming Sora.
Kling 1.5 claims a 95% improvement over its predecessor, delivering enhanced image quality, more natural motion, and better prompt relevance. Among other things, the new premium product produces higher quality results via “natural prompting,” meaning it doesn’t require the tags and complex keywords of competitors.
This new upgrade makes the model even more competitive against already popular options like Runway, Pika, or Dream Machine. Sora, the promising video generation software that OpenAI showed months ago, is still not available; however, some of the already available generations made with Kling 1.5 compete in quality and even beat Sora’s handpicked demos.
The upgrade introduces a new feature called Motion Brush. This tool allows users to "precisely define the movement of any element within your image, from characters to objects," giving creators unprecedented control over video animation. Kling 1.5 also debuts a "high-quality mode," available at no extra cost, which optimizes visuals for large screens.
Kuaishou has expanded Kling's capabilities, now supporting 1080p HD video generation in professional mode. The platform can produce videos up to 10 seconds long in various aspect ratios, including landscape, portrait, and square. Users can generate up to four videos simultaneously, and our own personal tests with Kling 1.0 using the same prompts shared by OpenAI for its Sora model produced results comparable in terms of quality and coherence.
As reported by Decrypt back in June, Chinese tech company Kuaishou first released Kling in China, and it became accessible worldwide at KlingAI.com one month later. New users receive 66 daily credits upon registration, allowing them to experiment with the platform's capabilities.
Kling now outperforms several competitors in video length and quality. It can generate up to two minutes of video in 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second (fps), surpassing the offerings of Pika and RunwayML. The platform also has an active community in which people share anything from images to short films.
For those worried about safety, Kling operates within strict content guidelines. The platform restricts the generation of violent or NSFW content and prohibits depictions of famous people, aligning with responsible AI development practices.
Kling 1.5 currently leads the pack, but the competition in the generative video space is only heating up. While Sora may challenge for the throne upon its launch, its current outputs are now just another option in an increasingly crowded pool of AI-generated video apps.
Edited by Josh Quittner and Andrew Hayward
