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Cristóbal Valenzuela
@c_valenzuelab
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cofounder ceo @runwayml
New York, NY
Joined October 2016
Runway is not an AI company. Runway is a media and entertainment company. And I actually think the era of AI companies is over. It's not because AI failed - quite the opposite. It's because AI is becoming infrastructure, as fundamental as electricity or the internet. Calling yourself an AI company today is like calling yourself an internet company. It's meaningless because it's universal. Every company uses the internet; every company will use AI. For Runway, our focus is art, media, and entertainment at large. We began Runway almost seven years ago with a vision that remains largely unchanged today: AI is a necessary tool for storytelling. To achieve that vision, we had to work backwards to build the best research team that could deliver the best models on which we could build the best products. I often talk about our work as a new kind of camera. Not in the literal sense of capturing images, but in terms of its historical impact. The camera didn't just create photography - it birthed entire industries, economies, and art forms. Cinema, television, TikTok - all children of that first revolutionary tool that could capture light and time. I think the work we are doing at Runway is part of a new foundation for an entirely new media landscape. Just as the camera transformed how we capture reality, AI is transforming how we create it. The models and technical capabilities we've built are just the beginning - they're the equivalent of those first daguerreotypes, primitive yet pregnant with possibility. The mistake many make is seeing AI as the end goal. It's not. AI is the mechanism, the underlying infrastructure that enables something greater. The real revolution isn't in the technology itself but in what it enables: new forms of expression, new ways of telling stories, new methods of connecting human experiences. Media has traditionally operated like a one-way street. Creation flows down established channels to reach consumers. Even when distribution was disrupted - first by social media, then by streaming - the fundamental pattern remained: someone creates, others consume. The roles were clear, the boundaries defined. But we're witnessing something different now. Imagine watching something that generates itself as you watch it - truly dynamic content that responds to you, understands you, creates for you. Universal Simulation and world building. The distinction between creation and distribution dissolves when content can shape itself in real-time. That is the foundation for an entirely new media landscape. It's about fundamentally reimagining what media can be: interactive, generative, personal - yet simultaneously shared and universal. This is also why pure AI companies are becoming obsolete. The interesting questions aren't about the technology anymore - they're about what we build with it. The next wave of innovation won't come from companies focused on building better models. Models are commodities. The technical foundations are now well-established and known by everyone. There are no secrets. The wave of change will come from those who understand how to use these tools to create new forms of media, new types of experiences, new ways of telling stories. The infrastructure is laid. The foundation is built. Now comes the exciting part: creating something meaningful with it. The end of AI companies marks the beginning of something far more interesting: the birth of truly new media. Not just new platforms or formats, but entirely new ways of creating and experiencing content. We're not building an AI company. And that's a far more exciting mission. Like it has always been; back to our roots.
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2 years that feel like 20 decades
Did you know... It has been 2 years since Runway released Gen-1? Wow, time flies! Think about all that has been done in 2 short years! S/O to @runwayml for leading the way, creating impossible and introducing options for everyone to build their dreams❤️
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RT @runwayml: Catch up on all of last year's winning films with the AIFF Screening Room. Submissions for AIFF 2025 are open now until Marc…
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@gallabytes I assume the issue is with more complex pdfs, like CAD files or maybe a security thing?
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Pretty big move, and a sign of times to come. A new media world. Congratulations to Scott and our friends at A24.
after 7 years since returning to Adobe (post the acquisition of @Behance), i’ll be shifting gears over the coming months + jumping into the fast-evolving world of filmmaking and storytelling (a longtime passion). excited to join @A24 - an independent studio i have long admired - as a partner and will be kicking off a few special projects within. fortunately, i’ll remain extended family of Adobe and look forward to working with them as a future tech partner. it’s hard to leave a team, mission, and customer base I care for deeply, but the Adobe team, strategy and pipeline has never been stronger. our upcoming releases of new products and transformational workflows across creativity and marketing are years in the making. i leave w/ a ton of gratitude - for shantanu and our leadership team, the incredible team we’ve built, and the countless learning opportunities Adobe has provided. i am especially grateful for the era of Adobe’s rich history that I’ve participated in - bringing products to the cloud/mobile/web, building foundational models and new products in the age of AI, growing Behance to > 50M members, innovating in areas like content credentials that foster attribution for creators, and helping advance our mission of creativity for all. as i jump into my next chapter at A24, I'm excited to finally be NYC-based (and will continue supporting founders as an investor/product advisor, writing "Implications," and serving on the Atlassian board). but right now i'm just very grateful to my colleagues at @Adobe, excited about the company’s path ahead (and our collaborations to come!), and eager to get to work w/ my new partners supporting the world’s best storytellers at A24.
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