In recent years, content creation has undergone numerous transformations. But few have been as radical as the arrival of video tools with artificial intelligence. What once required a camera, locations, a team, editing, and time, can today start with a simple sentence typed on the screen.

If you work with marketing, social media, audiovisual, or design, you must have heard about this topic. These are not just new software: they are gateways to a new way of creating. In this article, you will understand how AI videos work, what the main available tools are, the differences between text-to-video and image-to-video, as well as practical tips to create your first prompts with quality.

Get ready: creating videos has never been so accessible and, at the same time, so full of creative possibilities.

What is AI video and why does it change everything

AI video is the term used to describe the automatic generation of videos from instructions like text or images. The technology behind it uses machine learning models trained on massive visual and temporal databases, capable of predicting movements and building scenes frame by frame.

In other words: you describe a scene “a woman walks through a forest at dusk, the camera moves laterally”, and the AI generates a video based on that description. In seconds.

This logic allows anyone, even without technical experience, to transform ideas into videos, which directly impacts not only independent creators, but agencies, brands, and companies of all sizes. Besides the obvious cost reduction, the great differential is in speed and the potential for experimentation. This changes everything.

Text-to-video or image-to-video? Understand the differences

In practice, there are two main paths to generate videos with AI:

1. Text-to-video

This is when you start solely from a textual description. The AI takes care of creating everything else: characters, settings, lighting, movements, duration of the scene. It’s like writing a script for an invisible team that transforms words into moving images.

This approach is ideal when you want to test ideas from scratch, simulate scenes that don’t exist yet, or create highly visual materials without being tied to a reference.

2. Image-to-video

Here, the process begins with an image. It can be a photograph, a frame generated in Midjourney, a concept art. The AI uses this image as a starting point and adds smooth movements, facial expressions, animations in the scene, camera movements.

If you are already familiar with image tools, like Midjourney or Visual Electric, image-to-video can be an excellent next step. In fact, if your goal is to maintain the same character in different videos or images, it's worth studying good character consistency practices to avoid unwanted variations between takes.

The main AI video tools today

The race for the best AI video platform is in full swing. Each tool has its focus, audience, and strengths. Here are some of the most relevant ones currently:

• Runway: it’s one of the most complete and professional tools. It allows both text-to-video and image-to-video, and features advanced editing resources. Ideal for those seeking results with cinematic quality.

• Kling AI: generates longer videos with impressive physical realism and features like facial expressions and narrative continuity.

• Luma AI (Dream Machine): has stood out for generating videos with smooth and realistic movements, as well as good consistency between frames. It’s an excellent choice for those who already have a more defined aesthetic.

• Pika Labs: one of the favorites of content creators for social media. Simple to use, with quick generation and formats optimized for Reels, Shorts, and TikTok.

• LTX Studio and Krea AI: these two have been proposing a broader approach. LTX bets on narrative, with the creation of connected scenes, soundtracks, and effects. Krea AI stands out for its near real-time creation, ideal for those who want to adjust small details frame by frame.

If you are still exploring image tools and want to understand how they compare in terms of visual quality, I recommend this comparison between 5 AI tools for image creation.

AI video tools shaping the market in 2025

The corporate and institutional market has also started adopting AI tools focused on high-quality video production, realism, and scalability.

The Veo 3, for instance, is the latest model from DeepMind (Google) and has been noted for its ability to generate long videos, with advanced camera control, realistic physics, and impressive visual fidelity. It represents a leap from previous models by offering visual narrative with temporal consistency, something critical in longer productions.

The Higgsfield, developed based on Hugging Face's open models, adopts a more customizable and technical approach. It is one of the best options for those who want total control over the generation, manipulation, and rendering pipeline, especially in internal development or research environments.

For those working in digital marketing and institutional content, tools like the Freepik Video Generator offer an important differential: integration with design libraries, ready-made templates, and direct focus on formats for ads, social media, and e-commerce.

Other names gaining momentum include:

• Synthesia: generates videos with realistic avatars and automatic dubbing, widely used by companies in training, pitches, and presentations.

• HeyGen: similar alternative, focused on humanized videos and generation of hyper-realistic faces.

• Pictory: ideal for creating videos from scripts or blog articles, widely used by content marketing teams.

• Descript: a hybrid between video editor and automatic transcriber, which now also includes generative AI features to create takes, cuts, and narration.

These tools represent not only a technological evolution but also a change in mindset: from videos as one-off productions, to videos as scalable, automatable assets present throughout the company's communication strategy.

The secret lies in the prompt: how to write instructions that work

One of the greatest skills you can develop when working with AI is knowing how to write a good prompt. And for video, this is even more critical because you are dealing with multiple elements: movement, time, light, space, and emotion.

A good prompt describes:

• The focus of the scene (“a solitary violinist in the center of the stage”)

• The action or movement (“playing with intensity, eyes closed”)

• The environment (“in an empty theater, blue light from above”)

• The visual aesthetic (“cinematic style, slight grain, pronounced shadows”)

• The camera framing (“medium shot, slow lateral movement”)

Rather than relying on abstractions “inspiring video with emotion”, prefer visual details and specific actions. And if you want to dive deeper into this, we recommend the article how to write professional AI prompts, it can make all the difference.

And what about lighting? Yes, it matters too

Many people are surprised to realize that lighting in AI videos is not random. On the contrary, you can (and should) describe how you want the scene to be lit.

Terms like golden hour, backlight, soft shadows, key light lateral, among others, are part of the vocabulary of those creating videos with AI and want to go beyond the basics. If you are looking for videos with a more cinematic finish, mastering the language of light is essential.

Here it's worth taking a look at this visual guide we created on lighting techniques for cinematic results. It's a class in itself.

AI is a tool, you are the director

A good way to think about creating video with AI is comparing it to directing a film: the AI is your technical crew, but you are still the director.

It doesn’t decide for you what to tell, how to frame, or what emotion to convey, but it gives you the means to test, fail, and refine faster than ever. And that’s exactly where the power lies; the clearer your vision, the more amazing the results will be.

For many, this also opens space for hybrid workflows: using AI to generate raw footage, then finishing in tools like Premiere or DaVinci. Mixing real takes with generated elements. Creating different versions of the same film. AI does not replace human creativity, it multiplies it.

The next step is to get started

If you’ve read this far, you already know it’s not just about using tools. Creating videos with AI is a new visual language, and like any language, it is learned through practice.

Start testing with simple prompts. Experiment with the same idea in two different tools. Combine generated images with animated videos. Adjust the light, change the pace, switch the viewpoint.

And more than anything: don’t be afraid to test. The beauty of AI is that you can fail as many times as you want. And who knows, in this process, you discover a new way to tell stories, a way that only you can imagine.