Alibaba's New AI Video Model 'HappyHorse' Surpasses ByteDance's Seedance 2.0

Alibaba Group Holding has quietly unveiled a new video generation model, HappyHorse 1.0, which has surpassed ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 as the world's top-ranked artificial intelligence video tool. This development offers a glimpse into the AI talent race as the market heats up.

The HappyHorse 1.0 model was developed by the Innovation Business Unit under Alibaba Token Hub (ATH), a spokeswoman for ATH told the South China Morning Post on Friday. The unit has more product releases in its pipeline.

According to consultancy Artificial Analysis, HappyHorse is currently ranked as the world's top AI model in both text-to-video and image-to-video categories, ahead of ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 in both metrics.

The benchmark ranks AI video models using a rating system that measures performance through head-to-head comparisons. Scores are informed by human preferences and adjusted dynamically based on relative performance, serving as a robust gauge of model quality.

HappyHorse's debut and its eclipsing of Seedance and Kuaishou's Kling AI tools, both ranked among the world's leading video models, has also put the spotlight on its creator, Zhang Di. Zhang led the months-long HappyHorse project after rejoining Alibaba in November, according to a person familiar with the matter.