Amazon Video Generator for advertisers using Sponsored Brands in the U.S. debuted Thursday at the company's Accelerate conference. The AI-powered tool turns one product image into a video clip a few seconds in length after just a few minutes of processing. It will roll out more broadly in the coming months.

Jay Richman, Amazon Ads vice president of product and technology, told MediaPost that it is "designed to create a story that drives an emotional connection between the shopper and brand."Amazon has much higher aspirations for video. "This is just the beginning," he said. "Over time you should expect the videos to become longer in duration and scenes to become more complex in terms of the storytelling." 

Video generator builds on Image Generator, which Amazon launched last October. 

Image Generator allows advertisers to place a beautiful, handcrafted ceramic mug on a table rather than against a plan white background, using live images with subtle motion of steam rising off that ceramic mug, flowers blowing in the breeze, or a shot of espresso filling a cup from a machine.

Video Generator now produces a story through multiple scenes. 

Small brands typically stick with Sponsored Ads in search, Richman says, but they end up missing out on reaching customer across publishers like Twitch, Alexa, and Whole Foods Market. Larger brands that invest a lot in creative, find it difficult to scale ads across so many unique placements. 

The tools are free to use. Basic editing tools are available and are integrated into Amazon Ads workflows. 

The videos are created through several techniques, which begin with the advertiser picking the products. Amazon's technology generates from product details and customer reviews a set of scenes that are translated into the form of a prompt, which feeds into the video model. 

Scene one may be a closeup of a cozy dining room. Scene two could be a cut to an espresso machine with a camera zooming in as the shot of liquid begins to pour. Scene three might be steam rising up from the mug. 

"It's all done automatically based on the product selection, stringing together multiple models," Richman said.

When asked to elaborate on the future of this type of advertising for companies selling across the Amazon marketplace, Richman says to think about video as being on the same path as image ads.

Image Generator initially rolled out in Sponsored Brands ads in the U.S. a year ago, and has since been integrated into other advertising platforms in other parts of the world. 

"This is the beginning of the journey for Video Generator," Richman says.