Alibaba confirms it is behind top-ranked AI video model HappyHorse

Investing.com -- Alibaba has confirmed it is behind HappyHorse-1.0, an anonymous AI video model that reached the top of global benchmark rankings this week.

The model appeared on benchmarking platform Artificial Analysis around Monday without identifying its creator and climbed to first place in blind-test rankings for both text-to-video and image-to-video generation.

Developers revealed Friday on a newly created X account that HappyHorse is part of Alibaba's ATH AI Innovation Unit and remains under development. Alibaba confirmed to CNBC that the post was genuine.

The anonymous launch had sparked speculation about whether the developer was a tech giant such as Tencent or Alibaba or an independent developer.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba closed 2.12% higher Friday after news of its involvement. US-listed shares gained roughly 0.7% in pre-market trading Friday.

While Alibaba's previous AI model series have included video generation capabilities, none have generated the same level of attention or ranked as highly as HappyHorse has in recent days.

The confirmation comes as competitors face setbacks in video generation. OpenAI recently discontinued its Sora video generation app and platform, citing a strategic shift to focus on coding tools, corporate clients and AGI development amid high compute costs.

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