On Monday, TikTok unveiled a slate of generative AI tools, designed to help automate creative production. They’ll not only live natively on TikTok but will also be integrated within Adobe Express and WPP Open for marketers’ use.
As part of its Symphony suite of AI-powered creative products, TikTok will now offer image-to-video generation to transform still product images, inspiration mood boards, or brand visuals into five-second branded video clips. Text-to-video capabilities will also be available, letting marketers enter short prompts to produce automated video content.
The news coincides with the first day of Cannes Lions, where TikTok this year has taken over part of the famed Carlton Hotel for four days of programming.
TikTok sees the tools helping marketers test creative variations and scale custom content. The company’s global head of creative and brand products, Andy Yang, described the offerings as “accessible” and “agile” in a statement.
TikTok is also building on its 2024 rollout of humanlike digital avatars—AI-generated creators that can be deployed to promote brands’ products or services. With a new offering called Symphony Showcase Products, marketers can upload a visual with a brief text blurb and get lifelike videos with avatars that can hold products, model clothing, or demo mobile apps.
Extending AI beyond TikTok
Symphony features are also extending beyond the TikTok platform, the company said.
The new image-to-video feature will be integrated into Adobe Express, Adobe’s platform for social-first content development. Using the Symphony Assistant plug-in, launched last year for TikTok music licensing, users can now use the image-to-video feature.
The arrangement builds on TikTok’s longstanding partnership with Adobe; the two have worked together previously to adapt Adobe Express and Adobe Premiere Pro products to streamline TikTok content creation.
Some of TikTok’s automated creative tools will also become accessible via WPP Open, the holdco’s proprietary AI marketing platform. WPP employees can access Symphony AI Dubbing for translation, Symphony Digital Avatars, and the Generate & Remix video tool, which generates various video content suggestions in response to simple prompts.
The new image and text-to-video tool, plus Showcase Products tools, however, will not be integrated into WPP Open.
“With TikTok’s Symphony Suite, we’re giving our creatives even more firepower to push boundaries and experiment for our clients,” said Rob Reilly, WPP’s chief creative officer, in a statement. “It’s about making creativity smarter, faster, and more effective, blending the magic of the human touch with the power of AI to deliver killer results for the world’s biggest brands.”
Content created with Symphony comes with a label indicating to viewers that it’s AI-generated. It also undergoes “multiple rounds of safety review” that include oversight of uploaded images and input prompts, TikTok said.
Meanwhile, TikTok’s future in the U.S. remains uncertain.
After an initial nationwide ban went into effect on January 19, only to be quickly reversed when Donald Trump returned to the White House, the app faces a June 19 deadline by which it must be divested by parent company ByteDance or face a nationwide ban. While a handful of high-profile organizations and investors have signaled interest in acquiring the video-sharing platform, its fate is yet to be determined. Trump has hinted that he may issue a further extension on the deadline.
Some TikTok competitors, like Snap and BeReal, are champing at the bit for an opportunity to gobble up displaced ad spend.