Three-toed sloth, Amazon, Brazil, South America (Photo by Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Universal Images Group (Getty Images)
In 2025, technology is exploding around LLM capabilities, and many of us are always looking for the next new thing. This may feel tiring. That’s why we scour Reddit just to ask others for their opinion, to hear what another real human user has to say about the model, and to get a sense of what people are actually saying beyond the blogosphere.
But every once in a while, something just sticks with you – if that’s the right way to put it.
Runway’s “Whisper Thunder” model, also known as version 4.5, is a GenAI juggernaut that produces extremely robust video. Early video demos show people and animals running through the streets, transforming into each other, and experiencing the kind of thrills you’d expect to see on the big screen if you’re still the movie-going type in the streaming video era.
So, what is Whisper Thunder? And who is Runway?
dark horse
Unfortunately, there aren’t many reviews on Reddit, and even on Youtube, I couldn’t find any examples of people playing with this technology, or at least not wanting to label their content.
Information about Runway is also scarce. This is not OpenAI, Google, or Anthropic. My research turned up a partial list of investors including General Atlantic, Baillie Gifford, Nvidia, and Salesforce Ventures. So apparently Jensen fans know who these people are.
There’s a little more In an interview with CNBC Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela said the new image generation model was “an overnight success that took about seven years” and is a nod to the competitive AI industry, which is important to many.
“(Runway) is excited about making sure that AI is not dominated by two or three companies,” Valenzuela said.
The report also reveals additional news that 4.5, or Whisper Thunder, was also known as “David” during production, referring to the company’s underdog status.
Razzle Dazzle on the Runway
One of my favorite podcasters, Nathaniel Whitmore, says this about the new models on the runway: However, I think you are quoting someone else’s words.
“Runway Gen 4.5 is cutting edge and setting new standards for video generation, motion quality, instant compliance, and visual fidelity. It certainly excels on text-to-video leaderboards…and many of the advances seem to fit into what I call ‘unlocked scores.’ Essentially, it’s an improvement that unlocks use cases that were previously difficult, if not impossible. ”
For reference, here’s a quick list of features: Y Combinator Hacker News:
“• Text → Video: Enter the prompt, select the style/ratio, and the complete video will be generated.
• Cinematic quality: natural movement, consistent scenes, realistic lighting – more stable than most similar tools.
• Fast and easy: no watermarks, no payments, quick generation – perfect for video prototyping.
• Style Control: Supports realistic, animated, and cinematic styles, and uses reference images to maintain consistency between shots.
This model is one of the notable ones along with the Nano Banana Pro. I wrote about Nano Banana Pro earlier this week after it popped up on everyone’s feeds. This clearly puts serious pressure on OpenAI to stay ahead of Google’s rapid advances in the modeling world.
Please look forward to future updates.
