xAI launches image-to-video model that turns static pictures into clips

Musk's AI company xAI has opened a preview of its image-to-video model, grok-imagine-video-1.5-preview, via its API. The model turns a single static image into a smooth, cinematic video clip. Users describe the motion in natural language to control camera movement, pacing, atmosphere, and physics.

For quality, the model outputs up to 720p video—not super high-res, but enough for proof-of-concept, storyboarding, or short content. xAI also says it's good for multi-shot sequences: design each frame, animate them one by one, then link them into a longer scene.