This Dreamlike Video Generator Makes Interactive AI Feel Like a Lo-Fi Acid Trip

Gizmodo

29-05-2025

We talk a lot about AI hallucinations nowadays—and for good reason. 'Hallucinations' is basically AI-speak for 'making sh*t up,' and most of the time—like in the case of web search, which relies on surfacing real, useful information—that's a Very Bad Thing. I don't think I'm alone when I say AI shouldn't be recommending that we put glue on our pizza, even if we know enough not to actually do that.
But hallucinating doesn't always have to be bad. Sometimes, just like in real life, it can be a heck of a lot of fun, and Odyssey, a new company trying to pioneer interactive AI video, is making a pretty solid case for the fun side of things. Don't take my word for it—see for yourself.
Introducing AI video you can watch and interact with, in real-time!
Powering this is a new world model that imagines and streams video frames every 40ms(!). No game engine in sight.
We call it interactive video, and it's free for anyone to try right now (GPUs permitting)! pic.twitter.com/QtADRXCQ8z
— Odyssey (@odysseyml) May 28, 2025
Odyssey is exactly as the company describes—a web-based world where you can stream AI-generated video. Unlike other video generators like Google's Veo 3, which requires using a text prompt to create a video that you can only watch, Odyssey generates a whole world that you can actually explore using your keyboard. If you're reading this and thinking, 'Isn't that Minecraft or any number of world-generating games out there?' apparently there actually is a difference, according to Odyssey. There is no game engine—all of the worlds are being generated in real time as you explore them. Per Odyssey, it 'streams video frames every 40ms' for a continuously generated experience.
As a follower of video generation and AI, I naturally jumped straight into trying out Odyssey for myself, and the 'game,' if you can call it that, is weird in the best way possible. For now, everything in Odyssey is very lo-fi, which for most interactive apps (AI-generated or otherwise) would be a bad thing, but in this case, it kind of works. It leans into the necessity for a low frame rate to deliver hazy, almost dreamlike worlds. It's like if you took 3D imagery from Google Maps, funneled it into a VCR, and then played it back after freebasing some experimental new research chemical made from thermal paste. (Disclaimer: Please don't try that at home, folks.) The whole thing, as you might imagine, is pretty buggy, too. Environments render and sometimes disappear, making the whole thing even more hallucinatory than it already is.
Using your keyboard WASD-style to explore the worlds is decidedly a slow, plodding experience, but I can't say I'm particularly mad about that. Everything in Odyssey feels experimental to an extent, and the fuzzy nature of scanning through worlds with an almost radio-like tuner comes off as more of an aesthetic choice, even if it's actually a technical necessity. That doesn't mean the creators of Odyssey—backed by Pixar cofounder Edwin Catmull, as noted by The Verge—aren't looking to up the visual ante. A next-gen version of Odyssey is already in the pipeline, though it's hard to say when that will materialize and how much of a visual improvement it will be
For now, the experience is exactly what it needs to be—it's interesting and glitchy. I'm sure things are bound to get more complex and maybe more convoluted as they progress, but these are the early stages we can actually appreciate without having to overthink it. I know AI-generated video is in a strange state right now, but if you've got the time, I recommend taking a weird, disjointed stroll through Odyssey. It might just be the only AI video experience that doesn't fill you with dread right now.