This AI Tool Helps Creators Produce Viral Videos—at Scale
With QuickVid, founder Daniel Habib wants to help creators produce endless content that’s also endlessly engaging
Daniel Habib knows the world of online video well. A former employee at Facebook, he was an engineer on Facebook Live for four years. Before that, he worked at online publication Refinery29, collaborating with the video team there. “I’ve always been very comfortable with video,” he says.
So when he began dabbling in the artificial intelligence (AI) space in 2022, it was only natural that he would look at how AI could be put to work to help create videos. “The more I started looking into generating video, I realized there are tons of ways to generate video today,” he says. The result is his tool QuickVid, which creates viral YouTube Shorts videos using ChatGPT and other generative AI services—conceiving the idea behind the video, writing a script, and creating actual footage.
QuickVid isn’t the only generative AI video tool in development. Google is behind Imagen Video, while Meta—the parent company of Facebook and Instagram—has its own tool, called Make-A-Video. Habib speculates that other players in the AI space, including OpenAI and Stability.ai, are almost certainly producing their own tools. “But the problem with those videos is none of them are fun to watch,” he says. The other tools take a single text prompt and produce a single, usually comparatively static, scene, without narrative. “If there's any goal of QuickVid, it's to generate videos that are actually engaging and fun to watch.”
This is why Habib wants to target creators, where others may go after the low-hanging fruit of marketers. The existing range of tools on the market are basic, and unlikely to be deployed by a creator with 100 million subscribers, Habib reckons. “If we focus on meeting that quality bar for YouTubers, we're going to win across the board,” he says. “Because we'll be hitting the highest fidelity and actually building something that's engaging.”
When Habib developed the idea for QuickVid, his goal was to build a tool where users can input text prompts combined with a range of toggles to produce different videos. Today, 300,000 people are using his service every month—creating 3,500 to 4,000 videos a day. QuickVid’s rapid success nearly backfired: The speed at which the service became popular almost bankrupted the company and Habib. QuickVid relied on paid subscription tiers for income, but offered a free version, too. It cost QuickVid four cents for every video produced on the service—a fee paid to OpenAI for access to its API. The more free users the company acquired, the more money it lost. By April 1 of this year, the company managed to grow its subscription model, and QuickVid finally became profitable.
“We were able to shift from just triage mode, where we're underwater, to now where we can start being more forward-looking,” Habib says. His plans include an overhaul of the QuickVid platform so that users can ask it to generate a script on a topic, then be presented with a narrated, graphically represented video within minutes. It also includes synthetic avatars.
At present, QuickVid is focusing mainly on the burgeoning world of PNG Tubers, in large part because they are easiest to render and animate using AI. The tool is able to learn from any edits you make to the script and the choice of pre-set emotions that are used to represent the virtual character, meaning that the more you use it, the less you’ll have to tweak manually. The goal is to help creators produce content at scale with a lower mental lift. “A lot of the time we have to really sit and lean into our screen and think deeply,” Habib says. “You can offload a lot of that thinking to GPT or one of these tools.” QuickVid, he notes, “greases the wheels of any forward thinking.”
Habib believes AI can help augment the power of creators to produce content at scale at a time when they’re more stretched than ever. “This is going to let creators pump out 10 times as much content that is branded and engaging, but still feels true to them,” he says. The benefits of AI also mean that the tool is able to create authentic content that wouldn’t be out of place on their feeds. “It feels like it's their own,” says Habib.
“It’s really exciting to think what happens when one creator becomes 100,” he says. “Now you can put out great content constantly.”
This AI Tool Helps Creators Produce Viral Videos—at Scale
With QuickVid, founder Daniel Habib wants to help creators produce endless content that’s also endlessly engaging
Daniel Habib knows the world of online video well. A former employee at Facebook, he was an engineer on Facebook Live for four years. Before that, he worked at online publication Refinery29, collaborating with the video team there. “I’ve always been very comfortable with video,” he says.
So when he began dabbling in the artificial intelligence (AI) space in 2022, it was only natural that he would look at how AI could be put to work to help create videos. “The more I started looking into generating video, I realized there are tons of ways to generate video today,” he says. The result is his tool QuickVid, which creates viral YouTube Shorts videos using ChatGPT and other generative AI services—conceiving the idea behind the video, writing a script, and creating actual footage.
QuickVid isn’t the only generative AI video tool in development. Google is behind Imagen Video, while Meta—the parent company of Facebook and Instagram—has its own tool, called Make-A-Video. Habib speculates that other players in the AI space, including OpenAI and Stability.ai, are almost certainly producing their own tools. “But the problem with those videos is none of them are fun to watch,” he says. The other tools take a single text prompt and produce a single, usually comparatively static, scene, without narrative. “If there's any goal of QuickVid, it's to generate videos that are actually engaging and fun to watch.”
This is why Habib wants to target creators, where others may go after the low-hanging fruit of marketers. The existing range of tools on the market are basic, and unlikely to be deployed by a creator with 100 million subscribers, Habib reckons. “If we focus on meeting that quality bar for YouTubers, we're going to win across the board,” he says. “Because we'll be hitting the highest fidelity and actually building something that's engaging.”
When Habib developed the idea for QuickVid, his goal was to build a tool where users can input text prompts combined with a range of toggles to produce different videos. Today, 300,000 people are using his service every month—creating 3,500 to 4,000 videos a day. QuickVid’s rapid success nearly backfired: The speed at which the service became popular almost bankrupted the company and Habib. QuickVid relied on paid subscription tiers for income, but offered a free version, too. It cost QuickVid four cents for every video produced on the service—a fee paid to OpenAI for access to its API. The more free users the company acquired, the more money it lost. By April 1 of this year, the company managed to grow its subscription model, and QuickVid finally became profitable.
“We were able to shift from just triage mode, where we're underwater, to now where we can start being more forward-looking,” Habib says. His plans include an overhaul of the QuickVid platform so that users can ask it to generate a script on a topic, then be presented with a narrated, graphically represented video within minutes. It also includes synthetic avatars.
At present, QuickVid is focusing mainly on the burgeoning world of PNG Tubers, in large part because they are easiest to render and animate using AI. The tool is able to learn from any edits you make to the script and the choice of pre-set emotions that are used to represent the virtual character, meaning that the more you use it, the less you’ll have to tweak manually. The goal is to help creators produce content at scale with a lower mental lift. “A lot of the time we have to really sit and lean into our screen and think deeply,” Habib says. “You can offload a lot of that thinking to GPT or one of these tools.” QuickVid, he notes, “greases the wheels of any forward thinking.”
Habib believes AI can help augment the power of creators to produce content at scale at a time when they’re more stretched than ever. “This is going to let creators pump out 10 times as much content that is branded and engaging, but still feels true to them,” he says. The benefits of AI also mean that the tool is able to create authentic content that wouldn’t be out of place on their feeds. “It feels like it's their own,” says Habib.
“It’s really exciting to think what happens when one creator becomes 100,” he says. “Now you can put out great content constantly.”
This AI Tool Helps Creators Produce Viral Videos—at Scale
With QuickVid, founder Daniel Habib wants to help creators produce endless content that’s also endlessly engaging
Daniel Habib knows the world of online video well. A former employee at Facebook, he was an engineer on Facebook Live for four years. Before that, he worked at online publication Refinery29, collaborating with the video team there. “I’ve always been very comfortable with video,” he says.
So when he began dabbling in the artificial intelligence (AI) space in 2022, it was only natural that he would look at how AI could be put to work to help create videos. “The more I started looking into generating video, I realized there are tons of ways to generate video today,” he says. The result is his tool QuickVid, which creates viral YouTube Shorts videos using ChatGPT and other generative AI services—conceiving the idea behind the video, writing a script, and creating actual footage.
QuickVid isn’t the only generative AI video tool in development. Google is behind Imagen Video, while Meta—the parent company of Facebook and Instagram—has its own tool, called Make-A-Video. Habib speculates that other players in the AI space, including OpenAI and Stability.ai, are almost certainly producing their own tools. “But the problem with those videos is none of them are fun to watch,” he says. The other tools take a single text prompt and produce a single, usually comparatively static, scene, without narrative. “If there's any goal of QuickVid, it's to generate videos that are actually engaging and fun to watch.”
This is why Habib wants to target creators, where others may go after the low-hanging fruit of marketers. The existing range of tools on the market are basic, and unlikely to be deployed by a creator with 100 million subscribers, Habib reckons. “If we focus on meeting that quality bar for YouTubers, we're going to win across the board,” he says. “Because we'll be hitting the highest fidelity and actually building something that's engaging.”
When Habib developed the idea for QuickVid, his goal was to build a tool where users can input text prompts combined with a range of toggles to produce different videos. Today, 300,000 people are using his service every month—creating 3,500 to 4,000 videos a day. QuickVid’s rapid success nearly backfired: The speed at which the service became popular almost bankrupted the company and Habib. QuickVid relied on paid subscription tiers for income, but offered a free version, too. It cost QuickVid four cents for every video produced on the service—a fee paid to OpenAI for access to its API. The more free users the company acquired, the more money it lost. By April 1 of this year, the company managed to grow its subscription model, and QuickVid finally became profitable.
“We were able to shift from just triage mode, where we're underwater, to now where we can start being more forward-looking,” Habib says. His plans include an overhaul of the QuickVid platform so that users can ask it to generate a script on a topic, then be presented with a narrated, graphically represented video within minutes. It also includes synthetic avatars.
At present, QuickVid is focusing mainly on the burgeoning world of PNG Tubers, in large part because they are easiest to render and animate using AI. The tool is able to learn from any edits you make to the script and the choice of pre-set emotions that are used to represent the virtual character, meaning that the more you use it, the less you’ll have to tweak manually. The goal is to help creators produce content at scale with a lower mental lift. “A lot of the time we have to really sit and lean into our screen and think deeply,” Habib says. “You can offload a lot of that thinking to GPT or one of these tools.” QuickVid, he notes, “greases the wheels of any forward thinking.”
Habib believes AI can help augment the power of creators to produce content at scale at a time when they’re more stretched than ever. “This is going to let creators pump out 10 times as much content that is branded and engaging, but still feels true to them,” he says. The benefits of AI also mean that the tool is able to create authentic content that wouldn’t be out of place on their feeds. “It feels like it's their own,” says Habib.
“It’s really exciting to think what happens when one creator becomes 100,” he says. “Now you can put out great content constantly.”
Lens in your inbox
Lens features creator stories that inspire, inform, and entertain.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you never miss a story.
Lens in your inbox
Lens features creator stories that inspire, inform, and entertain.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you never miss a story.
Lens in your inbox
Lens features creator stories that inspire, inform, and entertain.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter so you never miss a story.
