Chinese Video AI Models Outperform US Rivals in Quality, Lag in Safety: HKU Study
SCMP · 1 SOURCES1 day ago2 MIN
Summary
A University of Hong Kong study released on Monday found ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 Pro tops a ranking of 12 leading AI video-generation models with a visual quality score of 3.84 out of 5, surpassing Google DeepMind's Veo 3.1 and OpenAI's Sora 2 Pro. The research, led by Professor Zhenhui Jack Jiang from HKU's business school, highlighted that while Chinese AI developers have made rapid advances in a field contested by US tech giants, a gap exists between technical performance and content safety safeguards. Several high-performing models were found to generate legally prohibited visual content when presented with prompts involving extreme violence or illegal behaviour .
Key Points
- ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 Pro scored 3.84 out of 5 for visual quality, ranking first among 12 leading AI video-generation models tested in the study
- Google DeepMind's Veo 3.1 placed second with 3.47, while OpenAI's Sora 2 Pro came third at 3.27, according to the research led by Professor Zhenhui Jack Jiang
- The ByteDance model led in visual consistency, physical realism, aesthetic quality, and instruction compliance, maintaining its lead when audio was factored in with a score of 3.86 versus Veo's 3.51 and Sora's 3.35
- Professor Jiang attributed Seedance's strong performance to ByteDance's core business model of short-video platforms, which provides massive volumes of video training data that competitors lack
- Vidu Q3 Pro from Shengshu Technology ranked third with 3.44 visual and 3.49 combined audio-video scores, while Kuaishou Technology's Kling 3 tied with Sora for fourth at 3.27
Why It Matters
The study underscores China's growing competitiveness in AI video generation, with ByteDance leveraging its short-video expertise to gain an edge over American rivals that have dominated the field. However, the safety gaps identified in content safeguards highlight ongoing regulatory challenges as AI-generated video becomes more sophisticated and accessible to users worldwide .
The study underscores China's growing competitiveness in AI video generation, with ByteDance leveraging its short-video expertise to gain an edge over American rivals that have dominated the field. However, the safety gaps identified in content safeguards highlight ongoing regulatory challenges as AI-generated video becomes more sophisticated and accessible to users worldwide .