This AI video generator can make a banana typing look realistic – and might challenge Sora

(Image credit: Luma Labs)

Luma Labs has released the new Ray 2 AI video generator
Ray 2 turns text prompts into high-quality 5–10 second videos
Ray 2 is available through the Dream Machine platform

Luma Labs has premiered a powerful, new AI model for generating videos on its Dream Machine platform called Ray 2. The new model can produce an array of realistic video clips of up to 10 seconds, from recreating a bee pollinating flowers to more surreal ideas like the typing anthropomorphic banana seen above.

The beauty of Ray 2 isn’t just its ability to render these wild scenarios but to do so with motion and physics that look shockingly natural. Unlike earlier video generation tools, which often struggled to produce anything faster than a leisurely stroll, you can see people really book it in a run. Ray 2 is capable of this level of production due in part to Luma training it on ten times more computational power than its predecessor, Ray 1. That means more realistic characters, faster rendering, smoother motion, and far fewer glitches.

Ray 2 is available through Luma’s Dream Machine platform, which offers both free and paid subscription tiers. The free plan lets users dabble with 720p resolutions, while paid plans unlock higher-quality 1080p visuals and unlimited usage if you’re willing to drop $66.49 a month.

AI Video Sprint

Surrealism: "a photorealistic anthropomorphic banana man doing taxes" pic.twitter.com/OQCFaSRRWEJanuary 15, 2025

Luma has plans to expand Ray 2’s capabilities with image-to-video, video-to-video, and editing tools. That could mean letting you turn a vacation photo into a short video or remixing a home movie into something cinematic.

The company is also hosting the Ray 2 Awards, offering creators a chance to win up to $7,000 in prizes. There’s a $5,000 prize for the most-viewed Ray 2 video on social media and a $3,000 raffle for anyone who shares their content and engages with Luma’s promotional posts. If nothing else, it’s a good excuse to finally bring your idea for “sloths competing in a high-stakes basketball game” to life.

Ray 2's limits mean it won't quite blow any competition away, however. The time limit makes it less capable than OpenAI's Sora model in some ways. Sora focuses on creating longer-form, cohesive video narratives. Then there's Runway's Gen-2, which brings users tools to tweak lighting, camera angles, and more, and Pika, which regularly drops new features like picture-to-video ability that Luma is still developing.

Still, Ray 2 has its charm and feels a bit like a streamlined alternative for those who prioritize speed and ease of use. The real significance of Ray 2 lies in how it helps lower the barrier to entry for anyone looking to make a video with AI. Even if that’s something as weird as a banana typing a note.

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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.