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Runway sells software that lets people generate and edit video using artificial intelligence.
Runway is an AI video company. It builds software that turns a written prompt, a still image, or a rough clip into finished-looking video, and it sells that software to filmmakers, advertisers, and big media companies who want to make visuals faster and cheaper than hiring a full production crew.
The core product is a set of generative video tools. You type what you want or drop in a reference, and the model produces or edits footage — extending a shot, changing its style, removing something from the frame, or creating a scene that never existed. Runway also sells access to its models through an API, so other businesses can plug the same video generation into their own apps and workflows. The company's big bet is that AI video becomes a standard tool in professional production rather than a toy. It has pushed hard into Hollywood and advertising, striking partnerships with major studios and media outfits that want to experiment with AI in real projects. Its main rivals are other generative-video labs and the in-house AI teams at the giant tech platforms, several of which are racing to ship similar tools.
Runway makes money mostly through subscriptions to its software and through usage-based API fees. It is a private, venture-backed startup, not a public company, so it funds itself with investor money and spends heavily on computing power and model research — the expensive part of the AI business. The whole field is young, fast-moving, and legally unsettled, with open questions about copyright and how AI-generated footage fits into existing studio contracts, which makes Runway a high-upside but genuinely risky bet.
Saved answer · last researched 4 Nov 2026