This Entrepreneur Built A Multimillion-Dollar Business To Put AI At The Center Of Creative Arts ~ Forbes

Growing up in Silicon Valley, Demi Guo had two loves: technology and poetry. “Because of these two passions, I was always very excited to do something at the intersection of AI and creative stuff,” she says. Her interests came together in 2023 when she cofounded Pika with fellow Stanford Ph.D. student Chenlin Meng, 27. The AI tool turns written prompts into cinematic videos in a plethora of styles—including realistic live action, computer animation and anime. The startup has raised $135 million from investors, including former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, at a reported valuation of nearly $470 million.

This sort of tech has become a hot-button topic amid concerns that AI will threaten showbiz jobs (a central issue in the Hollywood writers’ strike in 2023). Guo argues Pika isn’t out to replace human artists: “The human artist is the one to guide AI in the right direction and eventually become a masterpiece,” she says.