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We’ve been expecting the tsunami of AI-generated videos ever since we first got a taste of AI’s image-making abilities several years ago. The results until recently were underwhelming. But now our social feeds are awash in increasingly realistic AI-created video. OpenAI, Meta, and Google have entered the game. At the end of September, Meta introduced Vibes, an AI-only video feed, in the newest version of its Meta AI app. It allows users to share videos created by the company’s generative tools in the Meta app, as well as on Facebook and Instagram. Five days later, OpenAI unveiled its Sora app, which, beyond creating videos from a prompt, is focused on allowing users to insert themselves, their friends, and even public figures who allow it into hyperrealistic scenarios. More than any other challengereven Google’s Veo3, which the tech giant launched over the summer and quickly integrated into YouTube shortsSora is positioning itself as the TikTok of AI, leaning heavily into the ability for users to have a fully synthetic version of themselves to appear in their content. The app quickly shot to the top of Apple’s App Store, logging 164,000 downloads within 48 hours of launch. Sora’s playbook might be new to the tech world, but it’s familiar to Demi Guo, the 26-year-old founder of the AI video company Pika, whose vision for the trajectory of social AI video predicted the current moment. Launched in November 2023, Pika is known for its Pikaffects app, which offers users a library of viral AI video effects. They include the straightforwardly named “Squish It,” which turns the subject of a video or photo into a squishy toy manipulated by a pair of AI-generated hands, and “Cake-ify It,” which slices up a subject and gives it the innards of cake. The company is so committed to its vision of letting users insert themselves into shareable scenarios that it launched its own social video creation app, Pika: AI Video & Trend Maker, at the end of the summer. “We really believe AI will be the next way for people to express themselves and will define the next social platform,” Guo said the day after Sora launched. “That’s the reason we launched our app two months ago.” With a $470 million valuation, Pika is a smaller, but prophetic player in AI video. Guo’s next move could offer another glimpse at the future of the fast-moving industry. Matan Cohen-Grumi remembers the first time he experienced the squish. The founding creative director of the generative AI video platform Pika was playing around with a new suite of effects the company had just come up with. One tool took an image and made it look like two sets of fingers were literally squishing the subjectbe it a cat, a cup, or a persons headin a delightfully (and terrifyingly) realistic way, complete with scrunching sound effects. There was something very surprising about it, says Cohen-Grumi, a former TV and commercial director who first discovered the magic of generative AI in 2023, when he used Midjourney to make a short film for his (now defunct) rock band. I remember saying to everyone, Ive been playing with AI for so long. Ive never laughed so hard. I hope this will translate. It did. When Pika released its Pikaffects tools in October 2024, the internet was flooded with metamorphosing bicycles, pets, and body parts. Tattoo artist Christopher Mirandas video of what appeared to be a knife cutting into a mans tattooed head, revealing a yellow layer cake inside, received 1.9 million views on Instagram. Even brands got in on the fun: Fashion house Balenciaga posted a video squishing one of its 6XL sneakers, racking up nearly 20,000 likes on Instagram. Pika says the virality of the new tools translated into an 800% increase in users. The success of Pikaffects was an aha moment for the company. Cofounded in April 2023 by Guo and Chenlin Meng, who dropped out of Stanfords artificial intelligence PhD program to start Pika, the company was originally focused on being a tool for professional-quality video. But now it saw an opportunity to become the go-to AI platform for the TikTok crowd focused on social-media-friendly templates for easily shareable short videos. This approach allowed Pika to distinguish itself from the longer-form tools, aimed at more professional creators, from companies like Midjourney, Runway, and Luma. With its ready-made library of special effects and videos that average only about 7 seconds, Pika would go after Gen Z social media users looking to createor at least jointhe latest viral trend. [Photo illustration: Michelle Watt. This image includes elements generated with GPT-4.] Pika was early to chart a path for its video-generating tools on social media. But it’s no longer aloneand its rivals are substantially better resourced. Beyond billion-dollar coffers, companies like Google also have access to their own social media platforms that they can use to mainstream their AI tools. Google did just that when it began integrating Veo 3 into YouTube Shorts in July, reaching the platforms 2 billion monthly users. Vibes users can share across Meta apps, and while Sora videos can be downloaded to share elsewhere, OpenAI is positioning the app as a platform that can stand alone. How long Pika will be able to stand alone in an increasingly crowded corner of the AI industry is an open question. (There were rumors over the summer of a possible Facebook acquisitionwhich Vibes seems to have put to rest.) Pika’s nearly half-billion-dollar valuation is not on the scale of Runway, which is valued at $3 billion and is expected to generate $300 million in 2025, let alone OpenAI. With monthly subscriptions that start at $8 and go up to $76, Guo will say only that revenue is in the eight figures. But the company has a respectable 16.4 million registered users, and average monthly active users across the web and mobile apps totaled 1.4 million in the first half of 2025. However, the company says fewer than a quarter million of them are paying subscribers. As it looks to grow, Pikas challenge will be continuing to spawn irresistible social-friendly effects that users cant find elsewhere. Following the success of Pikaffects, the company has doubled down on creating templates geared to making short, meme-friendly videos that can be quickly shared on TikTok and Instagram without requiring any AI skills. Over the summer, Pika gave users a new thrill by offering the ability to Labubu-fy an image intothe adorable furry-eared beast that has been all the rage with Gen Alpha. Ben Woods, a creator-economy analyst with MIDiA Research, says Pika’s approach is a smart response to the tyranny of creative possibilities that AI tools impose on users. Most AI video generators give us that blank box and say Create whatever you want. But some consumers come to that and dont know what to create, he says. Theres too much possibility. Pikas templates help winnow those possibilities. Pikas social-first messaging isnt subtle. Last May it released a provocative brand film dubbed Pikapocalypse. It featured a young woman using the app to inflate her cat, turn a potted flower into a balloon, and transform a pile of clothes into butterfliesoblivious to an apocalyptic wasteland outside her window. Guo says the point of the video was to underscore how, with AI platforms, people create their own reality. It generated buzz in part for toying with the idea that this alternate reality can itself be a mindless, self-insulated hole. The company garnered more attention in June, when Adobe integrated Pikas tools into its generative AI app Fireflytargeted at video professionals and social creatorsalong with other video models, including Veo 3, OpenAIs Sora, and Luma. Alexandru Costin, vice president of generative AI at Adobe, sees Pika as a dynamic means of creating social content. Pika offers a unique type of model with a unique personality, he says. One issue that Pika will have to wrestle with is cost. The company’s free version of Pikaffects has been criticized for being laggyand because it allows users to make only a limited number of videos, users often find themselves needing to upgrade to a paid version, which starts at $10 per month. Meanwhile, Pika’s new Sora-like social app has a standard paid tier for $95.90 per year and an “artist” tier for $389 annually. For younger kids and teens to be interested in Pika, it would almost have to be completely free to use because youre not going to see kids and teens paying those prices for videos, said Kai Turner, a former Netflix and Sony executive who focuses on generative AI video. Cost is, at least for now, not a factor with Sora and Vibes. Both are currently free, though ChatGPT Pro users have access to an experimental Sora 2 Pro model that isn’t in wide release. Guo acknowledges this challenge, saying that Pika is brainstorming different monetization models, including offering certain premium features for a cost while greatly lowering the price for basic users. At the same time, the social video creation app shows that Guo is pushing ahead with a wider vision for Pika than just viral tools. That puts her in more direct competition with Sora and otherswhich might be a harder space in which to carve out a niche. MIDiA’s Woods says Pika’s strength remains its ability to cull the endless possibilities of AI video into easy-to-use, viral-ready features. “OpenAI now is positioning itself to compete with TikTok and Youtube, as opposed to being an AI creator tool app, which is still what I see Pika as,” Woods says. Guo notes that Sora’s launch brought a spike in downloads of Pika’s app, though she doesn’t specify how many. And despite her having predicted this moment for AI video, she still seems to be figuring out her next moves. (In a conversation the day after Sora’s launch, Guo noted that the company’s user base skews femalesomething she seems ready to lean into, though she didn’t detail how.) One thing Guo is clear about: She doesn’t want her app associated with the AI slop that’s invading social platforms and blurring the lines between fact and fiction. “Our app is not just about random videos, slop videosit’s really about yourself, your identity,” she says, noting that Pika focuses on letting users center themselves in their own creations. It’s an idea that also animates the new Sora app and its cameo-based videos. “I think there’s a chance that Open AI was potentially inspired by this idea to bring a user’s identity inside their app as well,” Guo says. “It’s very validating that a big company like OpenAI also realizes that. We’re really proud to be an underdog in the spaceand the first to inspire everyone.” A version of this article appears in the Fall 2025 print edition of Fast Company.
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E-Commerce
Sending LinkedIn DMsthe digital version of cold-callingcan come across as pushy and is becoming a much-less-effective strategy for job seekers. Luckily, there is so much more that LinkedIn is capable of when it comes to facilitating job hunting. Here experts share their advice for engaging with companies, catching recruiters’ attention, and opening doors to new career opportunities, all without sending unsolicited messages. Optimize Your Profile for Recruiter Visibility We see many talented professionals who believe they need to constantly send direct messages to get noticed on LinkedIn, but we find the most effective approach is often more subtle. A fantastic strategy that yields incredible results without any direct outreach involves making your profile do the work for you. It all starts with the “Open to Work” feature. The real magic happens when you activate it and select the option to be visible only to recruiters. This acts as a discreet signal, letting our team and other recruiters know you are receptive to new opportunities without broadcasting it to your entire network or current employer. The data backs this up. According to LinkedIn research, candidates who use this hidden setting receive 40% more messages from recruiters. Hanna Koval, Global Talent Acquisition Specialist | Employment Specialist, Haldren Build Relationships Through Company Engagement One of the most effective ways to use LinkedIn without ever sending a DM? Flip the job search strategy on its head. Most people wait for a job posting to appear, then throw their hat into the ring alongside hundreds of others. The problem? Nearly 40% of the time, that job is already filled, in the process of being filled, or it was never really “open” in the first place. Instead of chasing job postings, start with a Target Company Strategy. Focus on organizations that truly align with you, their mission, vision, products, leadership, and growth potential. That’s where real opportunity lives. Here’s a proven strategy: Follow the company page and engage with their posts, articles, and videos. React, share, and, most importantly, leave thoughtful comments that add value. Connect with employees in relevant departments, follow their content, and continue to show up in the conversation. Over time, you’ll be noticed, not as “just another applicant,” but as someone already invested in the brand. This is how you tap into the hidden job market. Opportunities often arise before the job is ever posted, and this strategy puts you in the right place at the right time. Don’t just wait for jobs. Show up where the opportunities are being created. Thomas Powner, Executive Career Management Coach, Recruiter, Resume Writer, Career Keynote Speaker, Career Thinker Inc. Apply Within 24 Hours of Job Posting Here’s the uncomfortable truth about today’s job market: if you’re not applying to LinkedIn jobs within 24 hours of posting, you will often be invisible to recruitersno matter how qualified you are. When a desirable position goes live, recruiters often receive 200+ applications within the first 24 hours. Several recruiters have confided to me that they stop reviewing applications once they have a qualified pool of applicants, and this often happens within 24 hours. Why sift through an additional 500 résumés when they already have 200 highly qualified candidates To capitalize on this reality, create hyper-specific LinkedIn job alerts (like “Marketing Manager” AND “SaaS” AND “growth stage” instead of just job titles), enable mobile push notifications, and build a rapid application tool kit with customizable résumé versions and cover letter templates. This system will empower you to submit quality applications within a two-hour window of receiving alerts. Adapting to the fundamental change in today’s hiring speed is crucial. Your experience will differentiate you in interviews, but you first need to get into that initial pool of candidates being considered. Perfect applications mean nothing if they’re never seen. Amanda Fischer, CEO & Executive Career Coach, AMF Coaching & Consulting Participate Actively in Industry Groups A simple but often overlooked way to get more out of LinkedIn is by joining a few active groups in your industry and participating in the conversations. Groups are smaller, curated communities where the right people are already gathering. They are the best places to be to get noticed and hear about opportunities, without blasting cold messages to strangers. The reason this works is because visibility builds over time. When you show up consistently, whether that’s commenting, sharing your perspective, or asking thoughtful questions, you stop being yet another job seeker. Instead of chasing or forcing connections, you become someone others recognize and want to connect with. To make it practical, choose two or three groups that are clearly active (you’ll see fresh posts and real discussions), then spend 1015 minutes a few times a week adding value. Stick with it for a month, and you’ll likely see more profile views, new connections, and likely new job opportunities rolling in, all without direct messaging. Ana Colak-Fustin, Founder, HR Consultant and Recruiter, ByRecruiters Leverage Company Search for Strategic Applications By far, one of the strongest strategies a person can use is conducting a company search to find jobs, instead of a regular search through job filters. LinkedIn is a very robust platform that offers a great amount of information, and at times it may be difficult to know what to do with it. When you are searching for companies, first, you will get to see the businesses in your industry where you may have first-degree connections and fellow alumni. If you are applying to work at a company that has had success in the past with employees from your school, this could work in your favor. After all, “Alumni 4 Life!” Moreover, if you’re applying to work at a company where you have first-degree connections, these individuals may be able to offer you advice prior to any interview, and furthermore serve as internal advocates during your hiring process. Company searches also give job seekers insights into which job markets are very active in an industry and location. Finally, this type of search also allows the job seeker to pick the company they want to work for, instead of sorting throughthe usual “slot machine” of job search results, hoping that something was posted matching their qualifications. Steven Lowell, Sr. Reverse Recruiter & Career Coach, Find My Profession Create an Engaging Unemployment Diary I’ve noticed many viral posts on LinkedIn shared by people who recently lost their jobs. Such posts often collect thousands of likes, comments, and reposts. The idea is to proactively write a heartfelt post about how you lost your job, what financial responsibilities you have, describe your qualifications, and sincerely ask your network to share your post with their connections. You’d be amazed at how responsive people are. Not only do they actively engage with the post, but they also tag recruiters, HR representatives, or entire companies that might be interested in a similar role. But don’t stop there. Create an “Unemployed Diary” where you share your progress, wins, and setbacks. This way, you naturally create awareness of your situation on the most relevant platform for job seekers and build a new network of valuable connections. Alina Moskalova, Partnerships and Email Outreach, LinkedHelper Strategically Integrate Keywords Throughout Your Profile Your LinkedIn profile must be keyword-optimized if you want to be found on the platform. Imagine you were a recruiter or headhunter looking to fill an open role. What keywords would you type in the search bar to find a candidate? Now review your profile and ensure those terms are integrated throughout. This isn’t just about keyword stuffing. These words need to be strategically woven into your headline, summary, and experience section. You want prospective employers to find your profile, then be intrigued enough to contact you. Dr. Kyle Elliott, Founder & Tech Career Coach, CaffeinatedKyle.com Curate Content to Attract Decision-Makers Though this strategy may take some time, one way job seekers can use LinkedIn effectively, without direct messaging, is by appealing to the hiring decision-maker or an influencer of the decision-maker (not to be confused with a social media influencer) through a curated content strategy. This would begin with the job seeker posting curated content regularly that is relevant to the hiring decision-maker/influencer of their prospective role. So, what is curated content? In basic terms, curated content refers to external content, such as blogs, articles, and social media posts, that are reposted for a relevant audience. However, it’s not simply reposting this content for the sake of reposting. The job seeker has to provide a relevant perspective of their opinion or insights on the content they are posting. This strategy should begin before connecting with the decision-maker/influencer they’re targeting on LinkedIn. This would increase the level of engagement on the job seeker’s post, making it more likely to appear on the feed of the decision-maker/influencer once the LinkedIn connection is made. Now, how does the job seeker find the right decision-maker/influencer to connect with? Well, without being in the company or having direct insight into the company’s structure, it will take some guessing and trial and error. However, by performing thorough research through their prospective company’s LinkedIn page, website, and social media pages, the job seeker stands a good chance of finding who they’re looking for or the influencer who can get them to the decision-maker. From there, the job seeker should send a LinkedIn connection and monitor engagement on their curated content posts. Suppose the decision-maker/influencer engages with the job seeker’s curated content (like, comment, share, or even reaching out first). In that case, the opportunity arises to begin a casual conversation. If contact is made and the connection is properly nurtured, this could lead to a great relationship and eventually a job. Terrence Hight, Jr., CEO, Hight Health Expand Your Network with LinkedIn Open Networkers Job seekers looking to utilize LinkedIn effectively should consider updating their description to include “LION,” which stands for LinkedIn Open Networker. Then, they should search for LION and start connecting with other LIONs. This approach is especially beneficial for LinkedIn users who don’t have many connections because LIONs generally have established lots of connections and will help bring a lower-connected profile closer to other professionals on the overall LinkedIn network. After establishing connections with numerous LIONs, a user can then start to send connection requests to their target audience with closer connections to that audience, which will result in a higher likelihood of connections being accepted. Having an active profile is also very important, which means posting unique articles/content that is valuable within the ideal/targeted niche. After connections are accepted by a user’s ideal audience, rather than using direct messages, it can be equally effective to engage on profiles, such as endorsing, commenting, liking, and sharing other users’ posts. Adam Evans, Creative Director, Thought Media Establish Credibility Through Insightful Comments LinkedIn newsletters have great distribution and can be a low-friction way of further engaging your network. If you’re not using them to position yourself as a thought leader in your domain, that’s a missed opportunity, especially if you’re looking for work. Comment on current events, share your perspective on technologies and opportunities, and generally let your voice be heard. Jonathan Dunnett, CEO, jonathandunnett.com Engineer Your Profile for Target Roles Your LinkedIn profile is one of the most important digital assets for your professional brand. The most powerful strategy is to start actively managing it to become optimally findable. Recruiters and opportunities will find a strong personal brand. You need to engineer your brand’s narrative so that LinkedIn’s algorithm understands exactly who you are, what your skill sets are, and why you are the best option. Here’s the strategy: Define your target role and engineer your entire profile to rank for it. Your headline becomes your brand’s elevator pitch (e.g., “Senior Product Manager | Building User-Centric FinTech Solutions”). Your “About” section tells your personal brand story. And your “Experience” provides the quantifiable achievements that prove your brand’s promise. By doing this, you’ll be found by relevant people looking to hire: it’s the difference etween being a candidate in a pile and being the expert solution they were searching for all along. Jason Barnard, Serial Entrepreneur, Kalicube Document and Share Your Professional Work In a world where strategic thinking is expected from everyone, personal branding and the ability to promote oneself have become more crucial than ever. Yet, most people continue to neglect these aspects. Only about 1% of LinkedIn’s 260 million monthly users post content. Being excellent at your job is no longer sufficient. People need to be seen doing great work. The proliferation of AI has made verifying the originality and ownership of work more challenging than ever. This is where social validation and networking become essential. Individuals need to document and share their work online (via LinkedIn, building portfolios, leveraging thought leadership opportunities). It’s important to treat your professional persona like a productwhat’s your niche, what customers do you serve, and what impact do you make? Based on these reflections, build community and visibility around your professional work, rather than just sending résumés to HR via direct message. Those who don’t adapt risk falling behindnot because they lack talent, but because they’re not well-known. Roei Samuel, CEO and Founder, Connectd
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E-Commerce
Ill never forget the first time I saw the power of a group gasp. Years ago, at a Baltimore Ravens game, a film Id helped create played across the stadiums newly installed LED screens. In the climactic moment (a close-up shot as the kickers foot struck the ball) the entire crowd seemed to freeze, breath held, before erupting in a wave of energy that swept the stands. Thats because the shot was perfectly timed with the real kick-off that started the game. Picture 70,000 people rising to their feet in unison, their collective gasp creating a moment of pure electricity. That wasnt chance. It was the result of designing an experience where story, environment, and audience collided to spark a visceral, shared response. This group gasp, that instant of collective, visceral awe, has become the holy grail of modern brand experience. In a fragmented world where people crave connection, brands arent just competing for attention. Theyre competing to orchestrate shared emotional resonance. From spectacle to lasting impact The roots of immersive brand experiences run deep. In the late 1990s, with the internet booming and new competitors emerging thick and fast, we worked with IBM to use custom technology (think infrared sensor projections, interactive exhibits, and flexible architecture) to shift brand perception from staid to innovative. It wasnt about showing off gadgets; it was about shifting from a one-way monologue to the customer to a democratic conversation with them, entirely reimagining the relationship between people and brand. Today, environments like Sphere in Las Vegas or New Yorks Oculus Transit Hub blend architecture, storytelling, and cutting-edge tech to create collective awe. Outside these venues, brands are playing with physical space to show up in evermore seamless, smart, and impactful ways. HBO and Giant Spoons Westworld activation at SXSW set a new standard in experiential, inviting people “into the show” by recreating its Sweetwater location, deep in the Austin desert. But heres the real shift: Experiences no longer end when the audience walks away. Social media amplifies a single moment of wonder into a global phenomenon, extending impact for weeks or months. The gasp becomes evergreen content. Designing for shared emotion Technology may set the stage, but it doesnt guarantee resonance. The magic lies in emotional choreography; guiding audiences through intimacy, tension, and release. Like a great film score, the best experiences ebb and flow rather than hammering at peak volume. Different brands call for different emotional tones. For one, it might be joy and togetherness; for another, reverence and hope. Theres no universal formula . . . what matters is intention. The most successful moments also feel effortless. They dont overwhelm with every technical trick, but instead use restraint so each detail serves the story. Shareability isnt accidental, its designed into the experience. Yet it works best when it feels authentic, not engineered. The new marketing imperative A broader cultural shift in consumer spending, aka the Experience Economy, is nothing new. Since the 1990s, weve witnessed more people prioritizing experiences over material possessions. Marketing spend has taken a while to play catch up, but with a stated 74% of Fortune 1000 marketers planning to increase their spend on experiential marketing over this year, ad spend is now markedly shifting. Executives increasingly recognize that these moments forge emotional bonds that traditional campaigns cant match. When people share a communal, in-person experience, the emotional response is amplified. The brand becomes embedded not just in an individuals memory, but in a collective one. In an era of fleeting attention, belonging is rare, and therefore valuable. But as pop-ups and activations proliferate, not every immersive event cuts through. The brands that win will resist spectacle for spectacles sake and focus instead on stirring genuine collective emotion. Surprise: The spark behind the gasp At the heart of every group gasp lies surprise, moments that subvert expectation. Sometimes thats high-production spectacle, but just as often its a small, human detail: a perfectly timed music cue, a flash of humor in a serious setting, or unexpected use of lighting. Memorable moments dont require blockbuster budgets. They require empathy, timing, and the courage to be unpredictable. Commuters werent prepared to stumble into the surreal world of Severance in Grand Central Station, and adding the shows cast to its severed floor made Apple TVs experience even more unforgettable. The thought, I didnt expect that is the beginning of brand magic, and when people feel compelled to share it, the impact multiplies. The road ahead for immersive storytelling Were no longer just making content; were designing experiences. Content sits in a frame, while experiences unfold in space and time. This requires thinking like architects or choreographers, not just advertisers, designing for attention in motion across multiple tempos and entry points. Most importantly, it means anchoring every decision in emotion. AI is already transforming how brands design for emotion, from predictive analytics that anticipate audience reactions to generative tools that create hyper personalized experiences. But the real power lies in combining these tools with human empathy to craft moments that feel both innovative and deeply personal. At a time when trust is fragile, immersive experiences offer brands something rare: the chance to build emotional connections that pull people back in again and again. So, the real question for brands is simple: Are you willing to design for the gasp? In an age of distraction, the ability to elicit shared wonder may be the most valuable strategy of all.
Category:
E-Commerce
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