Alibaba unveils its viral AI video model dominating leaderboards

An enigmatic AI video model climbing global charts has been unveiled as a project from China’s tech leader Alibaba, marking a step forward for the company’s AI goals.

HappyHorse-1.0 surfaced on the benchmarking platform Artificial Analysis, without disclosing its backer, soaring to the top of blind-test lists for both text-to-video and image-to-video creation.

The creators announced in a newly set up X account on Friday that HappyHorse was by Alibaba's ATH AI Innovation Unit and remains in development. Alibaba confirmed to CNBC the authenticity of this announcement.

Its anonymous release led to online guesswork about whether it originated from a leading tech company like Tencent or Alibaba, or perhaps an independent creator.

Alibaba's shares in Hong Kong jumped 2.12% by Friday’s end following the news of its connection. 

The stock advanced 6.75% on Wednesday, buoyed by a broader upswing in tech stocks after US-Iran tensions eased, amidst chatter that Alibaba was behind the mysterious model.

Alibaba has accelerated its AI offerings amid fierce competition within China, leveraging its flagship Qwen large language model and chatbot app.

Although past AI model series from Alibaba included specific video generation functions, none have created such excitement or ranked as highly as HappyHorse has in just a few days.

HappyHorse-1.0 may bolster Alibaba's video generation efforts, a sector where rivals have encountered setbacks.

OpenAI recently withdrew its Sora video creation app and platform, shifting strategically to focus on coding tools, corporate services, and AGI advancement due to high compute costs.

Despite OpenAI stepping back, giving more room to Chinese rivals, ByteDance had to delay the launch of its popular Seedance 2.0 following copyright conflicts with big Hollywood studios and streaming platforms.

Alibaba's Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu has prioritised AI development as the foremost concern for the tech conglomerate, which also ventures into chip design and data centers.

Alibaba has previously woven its AI models into its e-commerce, advertising, and entertainment offerings, and might plan to use HappyHorse in a similar fashion.