AlibabaGroup officially released its AI video generation model "HappyHorse 1.1" on June 22–23, 2026. On the blind human-vote leaderboard "Video Arena" (Design Arena), it reached 4th overall with an Elo of 1320, entering the same performance band as BytePlusGlobal's "Seedance 2.0 Fast."
June 25 · Alibaba Cloud
HappyHorse 1.1 rides to No. 4 in global AI video rankings
Alibaba's unified audio-video model posts an Elo of 1320 — its highest yet — as rivals Sora and Seedance pull back from international markets, leaving it one of the few enterprise-grade global options with native sound.
1320
Elo score — 4th overall on Video Arena
+34
Elo gain over HappyHorse 1.0
15s
Max clip length at 720p / 1080p
9
Reference images for R2V mode
Leaderboard standing
Elo on Video Arena (top of the band)
1320
HappyHorse 1.1
No. 4 overall
~1320
Seedance 2.0 Fast
same band
1286
HappyHorse 1.0
previous gen
A +34 Elo jump lifts 1.1 into the same scoring band as ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 Fast.
One unified pass
Text / Image / 9 References
→
Unified architecture
→
Video + native audio (dialogue · ambient · music · Foley)
Zero-drift, multilingual lip-sync and context-aware speech pacing are produced in a single pass — cutting post-production versus multi-stage pipelines.
Praised
Fast combat scenes, sparks, fog & particle effects
Strong subject consistency from multiple references
Reliable prompt adherence for ads & product video
Warmer, more illustrative style at higher bitrate
Caveats
15-second clip cap; quality leans on prompt detail
Seedance mini is several times cheaper, cooler tone
Rivals can edge it on face / identity handling
Geopolitical & infrastructure questions for Western use
Pricing on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio
$0.14–0.18 / second
40% launch discount · first two weeks
Full API access with integrations across ComfyUI, fal.ai and Runware — backed by new data centers in France and Japan within a $52.7B global cloud build-out.
Continue reading The rest of this article is for AI News Blitz readers. Choose an option below to keep reading.
Already purchased? Sign in ✓ Signed in — this article isn’t included in your current plan.Unlocking the full article…