Microsoft Unveils Free Sora-Powered AI Video Tool🎬✨

From transforming text into video to animating your favorite AI characters—and even getting ready for the sleek future of iOS—this week’s updates are all about pushing the boundaries of creativity and user experience:

• Microsoft launches Bing Video Creator, a free AI tool that turns text prompts into 5-second videos using the Bing app—no editing skills required.

• Character.AI rolls out interactive features, including AvatarFX (image-to-video animation), customizable story scenes, and a new community sharing hub.

• Apple teases a bold iOS 26 redesign ahead of WWDC 2025, promising a sleek new look inspired by visionOS and a unified naming system across all platforms.

Whether you're a creator, tech enthusiast, or just curious about what’s next—this roundup puts the future at your fingertips.

Bing Video Creator: Free AI-Powered Video Generation

Bing Video Creator is a new, free AI-powered tool from Microsoft that lets you turn your text prompts into short, 5-second videos using the Bing Mobile App (with desktop support coming soon). Simply open the app, select "Video Creator" from the menu, or type "Create a video of..." in the search bar, then describe your scene in detail—such as characters, actions, and style. The AI will generate a video based on your description, and you’ll get a notification when it’s ready. You can download, share, or link your video, and up to three videos can be generated at a time. Each user gets 10 Fast creations for quick results, after which you can use Microsoft Rewards points or continue at Standard speed. Videos are stored for 90 days, and Microsoft has built in safeguards to ensure responsible and safe use. The service is rolling out globally (except China and Russia) and is designed to make creative video generation accessible to everyone.

Character.AI Launches Video Generation and Social Features

Character.AI has introduced a major update with new features that let users create richer, more interactive experiences. The platform now offers AvatarFX, an AI-powered image-to-video tool that animates character avatars or any image to sing, speak, and engage, available to all users with a daily limit and coming soon to mobile. The new Scenes feature allows users to immerse their characters in interactive, pre-populated storylines, with creator tools for building custom scenes arriving later this year. Streams lets users direct dynamic moments between any two characters, and both Scenes and Streams can be shared on a soon-to-launch community feed. Additional enhancements include a redesigned profile for better content showcasing and Imagine Animated Chats for animating and sharing character interactions (currently for c.ai+ subscribers). These updates are designed to empower creators, foster community engagement, and expand storytelling possibilities on Character.AI.

Apple Teases iOS 26 Redesign with “Sleek Peek” Tagline

Apple is teasing a major redesign for iOS 26 and its other software platforms ahead of WWDC 2025, which begins on June 9. The event’s new tagline, “Sleek peek,” hints at a fresh, modern interface featuring more transparency and glass-like materials, inspired by visionOS. This redesign is expected to bring consistent visual updates across iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26, along with changes to navigation hierarchies, new icons, and improved user experience. Apple is also shifting to a year-based naming strategy for its software to enhance branding consistency. The company invites users to share what they’re most excited to see at the upcoming WWDC keynote.

Hand Picked Video

In this video, we'll look at comparing three AI models (Gemini 2.0 Flash, OpenAI o1 & o3 mini, and Deepseek r1 ) for deep research tasks, testing their speed and output quality through a practical demonstration.

Top AI Products from this week

• Spine Research - Generate polished research reports in minutes—while staying in control. Pick the relevant websites, research papers, and documents the AI analyzes. Iterate instantly, all within the editor.

• Janus (YC X25) - Janus battle-tests your AI agents to surface hallucinations, rule violations, and tool-call/performance failures. We run thousands of AI simulations against your chat/voice agents and offer custom evals for further model improvement.

• Runner H - Runner H is a state-of-the-art AI agent that will allow anyone to automate complex, boring, multi-step tasks without repetitive and manual input. From prompt to action in seconds. Free to test today !

• Job for Agent - Post your job or task. Submit AI agent that can fill this job. 0% office drama, 100% uptime.

• RecipeSnap AI - Snap a photo of your fridge or handwritten recipe card — RecipeSnap AI suggests meals or digitizes recipes using AI. Add to your cookbook and filter by diet or allergies. Perfect for busy kitchens and food waste warriors.

• Tiptap AI Agent - Add an AI Agent to your text editor without the boilerplate. Let AI read and edit documents based on user-defined tasks. Works with OpenAI or your own LLM stack. Multiplayer-ready, fully customizable, and easy to integrate.

This week in AI

• Instagram iPad App Coming Soon - Meta is testing a native Instagram app for iPad, expected to launch in 2025, finally offering an optimized experience for the larger screen.

• Guadagnino to Direct OpenAI Drama - Luca Guadagnino is set to direct Artificial, a comedic drama on OpenAI’s 2023 CEO firing and rehiring saga, starring Andrew Garfield, Monica Barbaro, and Yura Borisov, with production starting this summer.

• Fi Smart Dog Collar - Fi’s AI-powered collar offers real-time GPS tracking, health monitoring, and activity alerts, ensuring your dog’s safety and well-being with up to 3 months of battery life.

• AI NPCs in Fortnite - Epic will let Fortnite creators add AI-powered NPCs with custom voices and personalities, like AI Darth Vader, using Unreal Editor for Fortnite later this year.

• AGI Arrival Debates - Experts disagree on AGI timelines—some predict before 2030 due to rapid AI progress, while skeptics cite real-world challenges, suggesting AGI could still be decades away.