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- Runway Brings Hollywood-Grade Animation to You
Runway Brings Hollywood-Grade Animation to You
Plus,⚡How to Create UGC Videos with Higgsfield, Runway’s Act-Two Is Bringing AI Animation to Hollywood’s Front Door, and more!
Hello there! Ready to dive into another upgrading, Mind-boggling, and Value-filled Shift?
Today we have:
📂 ChatGPT is quietly coming for Excel and PowerPoint
⚡ How to Create UGC Videos with Higgsfield
🕴️ Runway’s Act-Two Is Bringing AI Animation to Hollywood’s Front Door
🔨Tools and Shifts you cannot miss
📂 ChatGPT is quietly coming for Excel and PowerPoint
OpenAI is reportedly building native support for spreadsheet and presentation formats inside ChatGPT. If executed well, this could shift ChatGPT from a text-based assistant into a full productivity challenger to Microsoft Office.
The Shift
1. Native Excel and PPT editing may soon arrive in ChatGPT - OpenAI is developing built-in support for .xlsx and .pptx files, letting users open, edit, and generate these formats directly in chat. The formats are open source, so legal barriers are minimal.
2. A new AI agent could generate reports across public and internal data - OpenAI is also working on an agent that pulls info from public sources or internal company data to auto-generate Excel or PPT reports. This could automate analysis, reporting, and presentation workflows end-to-end.
3. Early testers report major speed and stability issues - A tester said one task took up to 30 minutes, raising concerns about performance under real workloads. OpenAI is also said to be testing real-time collaboration tools, but there's no release timeline.
OpenAI isn’t just building a smarter assistant; it’s aiming to replace Office staples with AI-native tools. That puts pressure on both Microsoft and Google to prove their suites are still the productivity default. If OpenAI gets speed and UX right, this could be a category-defining shift.
⚡ How to Create UGC Videos with Higgsfield
Open UGC Builder: Launch Higgsfield and go to the UGC Builder section.
Pick a Template: Choose a motion style from the Template tab; no need to stick to just one vibe.
Upload Image: Drop in your character photo or Soul ID under the Image tab.
Choose Actions: Set gestures and expressions in the Action tab for dynamic motion.
Add Voice Script: Type your dialogue in Audio Text; it’ll auto-sync with realistic lip movement.
Customize Voice & Background: Fine-tune voice tone in Audio Settings, and pick a background that fits your brand.
Hit Generate: Click Generate and get scroll-stopping UGC in seconds.
🕴️ Runway’s Act-Two Is Bringing AI Animation to Hollywood’s Front Door
Runway has unveiled Act-Two, a major leap in AI motion capture that animates characters using just a video performance and a single image. It improves on Act-One by tracking full-body, facial, and hand movements with far more fidelity.
The Shift:
1. Animate full characters with just two inputs - Act-Two needs only a “driving video” of a person acting and a static character image or video to create realistic animation. It captures subtle gestures, facial expressions, and upper-body movement from the performance and maps it to your chosen character.
2. Image vs. video input changes control options - When you use a character image, Act-Two lets you control body gestures and adds camera shake or environmental movement automatically. If you upload a character video instead, it maintains the original motion and setting but loses gesture control.
3. Built-in editing features bring pro-level flexibility - You can fine-tune gesture sensitivity and facial expressiveness to match your creative style and avoid artifacts. Settings like “gesture on/off” allow for precise control of pose mapping, while facial motion can be dialed up or down.
Act-Two makes pro-level animation available to any creator with a webcam and character sketch. As studios like Lionsgate and AMC adopt it behind the scenes, it signals a shift toward AI-powered pipelines in film production. Whether the public’s ready or not, AI is already storyboarding the future.
🔨AI Tools for the Shift
👕 YouWear.ai – AI turns ideas into custom apparel designs. Fashion creativity meets on-demand automation.
📱 OnSpace.AI – Build and deploy AI-powered apps instantly. Zero code, zero friction, just launch.
🎨 PicPicAI – Enhance portraits with AI precision. Bring out vibrant, detailed visuals in one click.
🧠 Specifys.ai – Plan your dream app with smart AI guidance. From vision to specs in minutes.
📊 Seline Analytics – Beautiful, cookie-free website analytics. Simple, joyful data insights with full privacy.
🚀Quick Shifts
📞 Google’s AI can now call pet groomers, auto shops, and dry cleaners to check prices and availability, just hit “Have AI check pricing” and get personalized updates via text or email.
📰 Google’s Discover feed now shows AI-generated news summaries instead of headlines, citing multiple sources but downplaying individual publishers, worrying that news outlets already hit hard by declining search traffic.
🧠 Researchers from OpenAI and Anthropic are calling xAI’s safety practices “reckless,” citing its failure to publish system cards or conduct transparent evaluations after Grok’s antisemitic and hypersexualized behavior.
🇨🇳 Nvidia’s H20 chip return to China is now tied to rare-earth trade talks, with U.S. officials saying it's only the “fourth-best” chip, sparking backlash over tech exports and strategy.
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