Runway Studios, the entertainment and production division of Runway, the developer of generative AI video tools Gen-1 and Gen-2, has announced the winner of its inaugural GEN:48 two-day short film competition, sponsored by Coca-Cola.
Entrants were asked to create a 1-4 minute video that used Runway tools to create at least 75% of the total video. Some 65 finalists were selected with the public asked to vote on a winner.
The Grand Prix Winner for the 1st Edition of GEN:48 was ‘2026’ by Dan Hammill and Jeff Wood, a tongue-in-cheek vlogger ‘post’ set in a post-apocalyptic near future.
Hammill also goes under the name of Greenskull, a YouTuber with a passion for artificial intelligence, and lists Stable Diffusion, Runway Gen-2, Gen-1, DALL-E 2, Midjourney, among the tools he uses to generate AI images and AI videos.
“There were some incredible films made by really talented people,” said Hammill. “I am immensely proud of what we made. I think it’s really awesome. I just had a lot of fun doing this.”
Canva on the Runway
Runway has also announced that its Gen-2 technology is now available within Australian online graphic design platform Canva.
Gen-2 will be accessible directly in Canva with its new Magic Media app, providing direct access to Runway’s AI video generation model for Canva’s 150 million monthly users.
“We are excited to expand access to cutting-edge AI models to a broader audience of teams, creators, artists and individuals seeking new ways to bring their ideas to life visually,” said Cristóbal Valenzuela, co-founder and CEO of RunwayML. “Runway’s mission is to ensure that anyone anywhere can tell their stories, just as Canva aims to empower the world to design. We believe that deep learning techniques applied to audiovisual content will forever change art, creativity, and design tools. This partnership is an exciting step toward furthering that mission by putting Gen-2 into the hands of Canva users so they can add the power of video to their designs.”
Runway Acceleration Program
Runway has also recently introduced the Runway Acceleration Program to help software engineers become ML practitioners.
“We’re starting this program because we have seen first-hand how people from non-traditional backgrounds can contribute successfully to AI projects when given the opportunity,” said Anastasis Germanidis, co-founder and CTO at Runway. “At a time where the state-of-the-art techniques and models in AI are evolving so rapidly, we believe that strong technical skills, the ability to learn fast, and the courage to dive into unfamiliar territories and technologies, are far more important than a formal education in the field.”
During the 3-month paid Acceleration Program, participants will gain hands-on experience by contributing to Runway’s ongoing projects. They will collaborate with the company’s interdisciplinary team of researchers, engineers, and artists to build new AI systems and creative tools. At the same time, they will receive continuous mentorship from experienced researchers in the organisation.
Learn more about the Runway Acceleration Program and apply at: https://research.runwayml.com/acceleration-program
See finalist videos from the GEN:48 competition at https://gen48.runwayml.com/winners