In plain English
- What happened
- Several AI tools now turn a text prompt or a product photo into a short video, including OpenAI's Sora, Runway's Gen-4 model, and Adobe Firefly's video tools. Each vendor sets its own rules for who owns the clip and whether you can use it in paid advertising.
- Why it matters to your business
- A cinematic product video used to mean a camera crew, a studio, and a few hundred dollars minimum. These tools cut that cost to a subscription fee and an afternoon, but only if the output is actually yours to use commercially without a legal question mark hanging over it.
- Do this
- Before you post any AI-generated video as an ad, open that tool's current terms of use or commercial-safety page and confirm it covers advertising, not just personal or internal use. These pages change without announcement, so check them rather than trusting a summary.
Short answer: yes, you can make a product video with the AI tools on the market, and several are built specifically for marketing use. The longer answer is that 'can I' and 'should I use this in a paid ad' are two different questions, and the second one depends on the fine print each vendor publishes separately from the marketing page.
What the tools actually do
OpenAI's Sora generates video clips from a text description or a reference image, and is built into ChatGPT for Plus and Pro subscribers. Runway markets its Gen-4 model directly at creators making commercial content, including product shots and ad concepts. Adobe's Firefly video tools sit inside the same suite as its image generator, aimed at people who already use Photoshop or Premiere for product marketing.
None of these replace a full production shoot for a hero campaign. What they do well is a fast draft: a 360-degree spin of a product, a stylized background swap, or a short mood clip you'd otherwise pay a freelancer for.
Who owns the clip you make
Under OpenAI's current terms of use, you own the output you create, subject to following its usage policies. That includes video generated with Sora. The catch is the usage policy itself, which restricts certain content categories regardless of who technically owns the file. Treat that as where things stand rather than a permanent guarantee — vendors revise these pages, and the version that matters is the one live when your ad runs.
Adobe takes a different approach and leans on it as a selling point: Firefly is trained on licensed Adobe Stock content and public domain material, and Adobe currently offers IP indemnification for enterprise customers, meaning Adobe stands behind the output if a copyright claim comes in. Its commercial-safety page currently ties that protection to specific paid plans rather than the free tier, so check both which plan you are on and that the offer still stands before you rely on it.
What it costs
Sora access currently requires a paid ChatGPT Plus or Pro subscription rather than a standalone fee. Runway and Adobe both run tiered subscription pricing on their own sites, with the free or trial tiers limited in output length and resolution and usually watermarked.
If you only need a handful of clips a month, the entry tier of any of these tools is likely enough. If product video becomes a regular part of your marketing, price out a mid-tier plan rather than assuming the cheapest option scales.
- 1
Read the commercial-use section, then re-read it before each campaign
Every vendor above publishes a separate terms-of-use or commercial-safety page. That page, not the marketing copy, tells you what you can legally do with the output — and vendors rewrite it. What was permitted when you drafted the ad may read differently by the time it runs.
- 2
Check what the free tier withholds
Free and trial tiers often add a watermark or cap resolution, which makes the clip unusable in a real ad even if the terms technically allow commercial use.
- 3
Keep the product accurate
AI video tools can drift from your actual product's shape, color, or label. Compare the generated clip against a real photo before you publish, especially for anything showing food, dimensions, or safety features.
- 4
Save the source prompt and files
If a customer or platform ever asks whether content was AI-generated, having the original prompt and generation date on hand makes that conversation quick instead of awkward.
Reality check
An AI tool is unlikely to replace product photography for anything where exact appearance matters, like food, jewelry, or anything sold by precise color or size. These models are generative, meaning they can subtly reinvent details rather than reproduce them, which is fine for a mood clip and a problem for a listing photo.
Adobe's commercial-safety page currently ties IP indemnification for Firefly output to specific paid plans, not the free tier.
The practical test before you spend money is simple: does the tool's own terms page say the word 'commercial,' and does your plan actually include the protections that word implies. If you can't find that answer in five minutes on the vendor's site, that's the answer. And because every rule above is a vendor's current position rather than a promise, note when you checked. If the terms shift, the clips you already published are the ones you will want to be able to account for.
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