--- title: "New Video-Generating AI Trained 100 Percent on Public Domain Films" description: "A new generative AI product claims to offer industry-capable film synthesis built using 100 percent publicly-licensed footage." date: "2025-07-13" modified: "2025-07-13" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/video-generating-public-commons" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai video" - "film" - "generative ai" --- # New Video-Generating AI Trained 100 Percent on Public Domain Films ![A new generative AI product claims to offer industry-capable film synthesis built using 100 percent publicly-licensed footage.]() *\Image: Getty Images\* Few tech products have been as broadly contentious as video-generating artificial intelligence. These complex algorithms, which cleave millions of datapoints together into seconds-long gobs of video, are notoriously trained on proprietary material, leading to widespread [ethical]() and [legal]() concerns. (That's before we even mention how much [energy it takes]() to synthesize an AI video.) Tech billionaires tend to argue that this is simply the way things [need to be]() — if you want AI, we need to feed it copyrighted books, music, and video. However, one group of AI researchers is working to prove that argument wrong. Moonvalley is a Los Angeles-based AI startup offering a "3D-aware" video synthesis model which it claims is 100 percent trained on public domain films. The startup's flagship product, Marey, debuted in a limited run back in March. It's now out and open to the public, [*TechCrunch* reports]()**,** making use of a credit-based system, which is typical of most AI video software. The company is drawing the attention of big names in the film world, like Ed Ulbrich, a VFX artist and producer who worked on movies like "Titanic," "Benjamin Button," and "Top Gun: Maverick." Moonvalley [hired Ulbrich]() to liaison with film studios back in June, a role he was drawn to by the company's "clean model," as he calls it. Ulbrich was previously down on generative AI, but says Moonvalley's approach helped change his mind. "I do think a key thing for me which was the game-changer and why I was just compelled is that at its core the idea of \[Moonvalley’s\] clean model of an ethically sourced, ethically trained, a legit, proper thing," Ulbrich [told *Deadline* ]()in an interview. "No stolen pixels, no scraping of the internet. It’s done in a great way. And it is so important that it happened." Similar projects have been launched in other mediums. In June, a team of over [two dozen AI researchers]() trained a large language model (LLM) on openly licensed or public domain data, proving that it doesn't take [millions of stolen books]() to build an AI chatbot. It was admittedly a ton of work, with the team combing through over eight terabytes of data — [roughly equal]() to about 1,685,461 Bibles — once to format everything, and then again to double-check the copyright status of all the material. The result was an LLM that more or less stacked up to Meta's Llama 1 and 2 7B, which are admittedly a few years old at this point, but impressive nonetheless. While it remains to be seen if Moonvalley's data truly was publicly licensed, as they claim, it could offer a strong rebuttal to [big tech's narrative]() of data shortages and necessary plunder. **More on generative AI:** [*"Indie Rock Band" That's Clearly Using AI Claims That "We Never Use AI"*]() ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()