Moonvalley, a Los Angeles-based startup, has launched Marey, an AI video-generating model that claims to be one of the few trained on openly licensed – not copyrighted – data. This move sets Moonvalley apart from its competitors in the increasingly crowded market of video generators.

Marey, named after cinema trailblazer Étienne-Jules Marey, was built in collaboration with Asteria, a newer AI animation studio. According to Moonvalley, Marey was trained on "owned or fully licensed" source data, offering customization options including fine-grained camera and motion controls. This level of control enables nuanced in-scene movements, such as controlling the movement of an individual checkers piece or animating the exact breeze blowing through a person's hair.

The video generator market has seen a surge in recent years, with startups like Runway and Luma, as well as tech giants like OpenAI and Google, releasing models at a rapid pace. However, many of these models are trained on public data, some of which is copyrighted, raising legal concerns. Moonvalley is positioning Marey as a lower-risk alternative, emphasizing its commitment to working with partners to handle licensing arrangements and package videos into datasets that the company then purchases.

This approach is similar to Adobe's, which also procures video footage for training from creators through its Adobe Stock platform. By doing so, Moonvalley aims to mitigate the risk of copyright infringement, which has led to complaints and cease and desist orders from rights owners. The company's commitment to respecting creators' rights is a welcome development in an industry where many artists and creators are wary of video generators, which threaten to disrupt the film and television industry.

A 2024 study commissioned by the Animation Guild, a union representing Hollywood animators and cartoonists, estimates that more than 100,000 U.S.-based film, television, and animation jobs will be disrupted by AI by 2026. Moonvalley's approach may help alleviate some of these concerns, as the company has committed to letting creators request their content be removed from its models, allowing customers to delete their data at any time, and offering an indemnity policy to protect users from copyright challenges.

Moonvalley is also building guardrails around its creative tooling, blocking certain content, like NSFW phrases, and not allowing people to prompt them to generate videos of specific people or celebrities. This commitment to responsible AI development is a key differentiator for the company, as co-founder and CEO Naeem Talukdar stated, "We're proving it's possible to train AI models without brazenly stealing creative work from the creators – the cinematographers, visual artists, creators, and creative producers – whose voices we aim to uplift with our technology."

As the video generator market continues to evolve, Moonvalley's Marey is poised to make a significant impact. By prioritizing licensed data and respecting creators' rights, Moonvalley is setting a new standard for generative AI, one that balances industry-leading capabilities with a commitment to ethical and responsible development.