Runway started by helping filmmakers — now it wants to beat Google at AI

Runway is expanding from AI video generation into world models trained on sensory and observational data.

Founded in New York in 2018, the startup has already sold video tools to filmmakers and media companies and is now positioning itself for broader machine intelligence.

It has launched its first world model and plans another later this year, while competing with bigger rivals like Google.

The move could shift AI competition beyond text models and affect entertainment, robotics, gaming, and scientific discovery.