Snapchat launches ‘AI Clips’ Lens to convert photos into short videos

Snapchat announced on Tuesday that it is launching a new feature called AI Clips within Lens Studio, its platform that enables creators to design and publish augmented reality and AI-powered effects known as Lenses. The new Clips format uses artificial intelligence to transform a single photo into a short, five-second video.

Unlike open-ended text-to-video tools, AI Clips operate within a closed-prompt system. In this setup, Lens creators define the Lens's structure and experience, while users select it and generate a video using their own images.

For instance, a creator could build a Lens that lets users place themselves in a red-carpet setting, generating a short video of them walking through the scene from a single uploaded photo.

Snapchat said that both experienced developers and newcomers can use this format to create and publish Lenses quickly. The company noted that the process can be completed in minutes, without requiring any external software or tools.

The AI Clips feature is available to users who subscribe to Snapchat's Lens+ service, which is priced at $8.99 per month. Lens+ provides access to exclusive Lenses and augmented reality experiences, in addition to the features already included in 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," the company said in a blog post. "There's currently nothing else on the market that combines closed-prompt AI video generation with direct photo input, real distribution, and monetisation."

Creators who are part of the Lens+ Payouts program, which allows developers to earn income from their Lenses, will also be able to generate revenue from the AI Clips they create.

Snapchat is not alone in exploring this type of technology. YouTube recently introduced a feature called "Reimagine," which allows users to transform a single frame from an existing YouTube Short into an eight-second clip using their own photo.

The announcement of AI Clips coincides with Snapchat sharing updated platform usage data, revealing that users created nearly two trillion Snaps in 2025 — equivalent to approximately 63,000 Snaps every second.