Simulating the Visual World with Artificial Intelligence: A Roadmap

The landscape of video generation is transforming, moving from merely producing visually appealing clips to constructing interactive virtual environments that maintain physical plausibility. This evolution is encapsulated in the emergence of video foundation models, which combine implicit world models and video renderers. The world model encodes structured knowledge about the environment, including physical laws and agent behaviors, functioning as a latent simulation engine. This allows for coherent visual reasoning and goal-driven planning. The video renderer then translates this simulation into realistic visual outputs, effectively serving as a 'window' into the simulated world. This progression through four generations of video generation capabilities signifies a significant leap in AI technology, enhancing real-time multimodal interaction and planning capabilities. As these models develop, they promise to revolutionize how we interact with digital content, making it increasingly im…