Generative-video platform HeyGen has introduced a “Product Placement” capability that lets users drop any branded item into an AI-generated avatar video and have the digital actor react automatically, including with a synthetic voice. Early demonstrations posted on 19 June show the tool creating user-generated-style promotional spots in minutes, eliminating the need for live actors, cameras or traditional post-production work. Midjourney, best known for text-to-image generation, has simultaneously rolled out a video extension that animates still images into five-second, 480-pixel clips. Testers report that the model’s understanding of style and composition yields more consistent framing than rival systems. Quality can be boosted with Astra, a new creative upscaler from Topaz Labs, which sharpens and lengthens the clips. Content creators and visual-effects professionals say the combined toolkit can reproduce effects that would previously have required VFX budgets approaching six figures, raising the prospect of major cost and workflow disruptions for advertising agencies and Hollywood studios.