Ovi: Twin backbone cross-modal fusion for audio-video generation

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Visual quality, uncanny valley, and aesthetics

  • Many find Ovi “mindblowing” yet firmly in the uncanny valley: odd facial expressions, anatomical glitches (e.g., extra limbs), and inconsistent scenes.
  • Comparisons are made to CGI in mainstream films: when done well you don’t notice; when you notice, it’s usually budget or execution.
  • Some argue AI video should lean into stylization/lo‑fi aesthetics (anime like Dandadan, Chainsaw Man) rather than chase realism that amplifies uncanny artifacts.

Models, open source, and technical details

  • Ovi’s video component is reported as being based on Wan 2.2, with audio from MMaudio.
  • Commenters highlight growing strength of open Chinese video models as credible alternatives to big proprietary systems.
  • Some see no strong “moat” in the core tech; moats are expected to come from distribution, tooling, integrations, and IP deals, not the base models.

Performance, hardware, and hosting

  • Ovi can run on a single high-end GPU (32GB VRAM), making realistic fakes broadly accessible.
  • People discuss cheap cloud access (sub‑$0.50/hr shared GPUs) and splitting large accelerators (e.g., MI300X) into smaller slices for hobbyists.
  • Experiences with generation time vary widely (minutes vs. hours) and may depend on settings; some note better results with newer CUDA/Torch and specific attention kernels.

Use cases, potential, and limits

  • Enthusiasts already use Ovi locally to produce surprisingly real-looking clips, but describe it as a “slot machine” requiring many runs.
  • Hopes include bringing manga/anime to life, fan-made adaptations of novels, and party-style collaborative movie generation.
  • Others struggle to see positive use cases, viewing current output as more nuisance than benefit.

Ethics, misuse, and company criticism

  • Significant concern about realistic deepfakes: fake videos to harm reputations are seen as imminent.
  • Criticism of the hosting company’s broader business model: accusations of exploiting lonely and underage users with AI “relationships” and harvesting intimate data.

Future of movies and cultural acceptance

  • Debate centers on whether we’ll see a <$1000 “blockbuster” from one person.
  • Skeptics emphasize missing pieces: coherent character continuity, fine-grained control, good writing, and acting.
  • Some argue audiences inherently dislike AI-made art; others think resistance will fade once content is indistinguishable and personalized media becomes normal.
  • There’s disagreement over inevitability: some foresee AI-driven hits or new formats (daily AI soaps), others doubt AI movies will ever be widely embraced as “art.”

Scams and name confusion

  • Commenters note opportunistic domain squatters/SEO sites popping up around new open models, often without real services.
  • Side thread on the older Nokia “Ovi” brand, with nostalgic commentary and confusion over the shared name.