Snapchat revealed on Tuesday that it’s introducing AI Clips in Lens Studio, its platform for creators to design and publish AR and AI effects known as Lenses. These Clips are an AI-driven Lens format that converts a single photo into a five-second video.
AI Clips are designed as a closed-prompt experience, different from open-ended text-to-video tools. Lens creators design the Lens, and users can tap it to create a video from their photos.
For example, a Lens creator might create a Lens allowing users to make a video of themselves walking down a red carpet using their photo.
Snapchat states that both seasoned and new developers can utilize this new Lens format to transform a single prompt into a published Lens within minutes, without external tools.
AI Clips are accessible to Snapchat users subscribed to the platform’s Lens+ service, costing $8.99 per month. As the name suggests, Lens+ provides users with access to exclusive Lenses and AR experiences, alongside features available through the standard Snapchat+ subscription.
“For the first time, developers can build and publish photo-to-video AI directly to Snapchat from the GenAI Suite in Lens Studio,” Snapchat stated in a release. “Currently, there’s nothing else that combines closed-prompt AI video generation with direct photo input, real distribution, and monetization.”
Lens creators enrolled in the Lens+ Payouts, Snapchat’s program allowing developers to earn from their Lenses, can gain revenue from the AI Clips they create.
Snapchat is not alone in enabling users to create AI clips from their photos, as YouTube announced last week the rollout of “Reimagine,” a feature that lets users transform a single frame from an existing YouTube Short into an 8-second clip using their photo.
The AI Clips launch coincides with Snapchat’s announcement that users created nearly two trillion Snaps, or 63,000 Snaps per second, in 2025.