Sora rival Pika just dropped a new video AI model, and I can’t believe how good it is

(Image credit: Pika)

Pika just released the Pika 2.1 AI video creator with features like Scene Ingredients and lifelike motion control.
Features like dynamic lighting and style transfer streamline cinema production.
Compared to Sora, Pika 2.1 is aimed at any skill level.

AI video creator Pika Labs is keen to stand out from possible competitors like OpenAI and Sora, and its newest model adds some real power to that effort. Pika 2.1 adds a whole suite of new and upgraded features just a little over a month after Pika 2.0 dropped.

The new model offers users tools to make animation smoother, lighting more dramatic, and physics more realistic. It's not quite Pixar, but it's closer than you might first imagine, and it's still usable for those who watch YouTube tutorials for editing family album videos.

The Scene Ingredients feature introduced with Pika 2.0 is still the star of the new model, offering to incorporate people, objects, and locations lifted from photos you upload. Your living room becomes a starship bridge, and your dog can star in a romantic drama with a few clicks. However, the new Advanced Motion Control feature is where Pika 2.1 really flexes. Fluid and graceful animation is suddenly much more feasible, replacing earlier models' more robotic, awkward motions. Ballerinas and gymnasts can star in your video without looking like straw-filled dummies.

Hold onto your 🍿 Pika 2.1 is dropping soon. - YouTube

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Thanks to the new Realistic Physics Simulation feature, all of the videos feel more like reality. Objects behave like they actually exist in the real world, meaning a character tossing a ball now results in an arc and bounce – just like Isaac Newton says it should. Though a somewhat subtle upgrade in some ways, it still changes your animation from feeling like a video game cutscene to more of a live-action performance.

The new Dynamic Lighting Effects also lets you enhance those scenes with a real mood. Shadows deepen, highlights pop, and sunsets look like they were plucked straight out of a travel influencer’s reel. And if you'd rather have a much more stylized kind of cinema, the new Seamless Style Transfer feature lets you revamp your modern, realistic video into a neon-noir from the 1980s or a moving watercolor painting.

Pika power

Of course, Pika 2.1 isn’t entering an empty arena. It’s up against Sora and many others like Runway, Pollo, and Luma Labs' Dream Machine. Sora has earned praise for its text-to-video capabilities, but is really mostly for professionals, not casual filmmakers. Runway has some impressive creations and multimodal input that can create videos from text, images, or existing video clips. Still, there is also a bit of a steep learning curve to unlock all of its features.

Pika 2.1, meanwhile, pitches itself as a good tool for professional animators and weekend dabblers alike. That said, you will need a subscription to use Pika 2.1 and all the new features. Otherwise, you'll only be able to use the Pika 1.5 model. That's nothing to sneeze at, as Pika 1.5 offers a host of fun visual effects to entice you into signing up and accessing the latest Pika model.

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Eric Hal Schwartz is a freelance writer for TechRadar with more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of the world and technology. For the last five years, he served as head writer for Voicebot.ai and was on the leading edge of reporting on generative AI and large language models. He's since become an expert on the products of generative AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and every other synthetic media tool. His experience runs the gamut of media, including print, digital, broadcast, and live events. Now, he's continuing to tell the stories people want and need to hear about the rapidly evolving AI space and its impact on their lives. Eric is based in New York City.