Tools change quietly. We write it down.

Higgsfield

Test Kitchen: Control measured with two repeat runs per model on the Halcyra product-film brief. Final Pist Scores: Seedance 2.5 on Higgsfield 76, Kling 3.0 on Higgsfield 67.

Pika

Pika releases H3 Flex, open-weight video models post-trained on MiniMax H3.

Canva AI

Canva unveils Craft, its first foundation model built from scratch by Canva Research.

Kling AI

Kling 4.0 launched globally on kling.ai.

Runway

Kling 2.5 Turbo Pro added to Runway Dev.

Adobe Firefly

Google begins deprecating Gemini 2.5 (Nano Banana) across Adobe apps.

Sora 2

Reported: OpenAI shut the consumer Sora app in April 2026 and scheduled the API shutdown for September 2026. Several platforms still list Sora 2.

ElevenLabs (ElevenCreative)

Eleven v4 released.

Suno

Suno v6, reportedly trained on licensed catalogs, launches.

Krea

Kling 1.0–2.1 retired from Krea; API endpoints sunset.

OpenArt

OpenArt launches OpenArt Arena, a model benchmark for creatives.

Leonardo.Ai

Canva announces ProSuite, connecting Leonardo with Canva, Affinity, Cavalry and Flourish.

Canva AI

"Magic Studio" retired from Canva's marketing site in favor of Canva AI 2.0.

Krea

Reve image models stopped working on Krea.

Krea

Veo 2 and Veo 3 sunset on Krea.

Higgsfield

Higgsfield's updated Terms of Use take effect, limiting its license over user content to running the service after a backlash over a perpetual license.

HeyGen

HeyGen Avatar IV model listed with an August 24, 2026 release date.

Suno

Suno Studio 2.0 adds MIDI, automation, effects, synths and an AI chat interface.

Runway

Gen-3 Alpha Turbo and Gen-4 Aleph scheduled to sunset.

Midjourney

Midjourney V8.2 becomes the default image model.

Runway

Runway Dev launches: one API for Runway and third-party models.

OpenArt

OpenArt launches Director, an agentic tool for making video through conversation.

Recraft

Recraft V4.1 released.

Krea

Krea 2, Krea's first foundation image model, announced.

Magnific (formerly Freepik)

Freepik renames itself Magnific.

ChatGPT Images

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Images 2.0 (gpt-image-2); Figma, Canva, Adobe Firefly and fal integrate it on day one.

Claude (Claude Design)

Anthropic Labs launches Claude Design.

Adobe Firefly

Kling 3.0 and Kling 3.0 Omni added as Firefly partner models; Firefly AI Assistant announced.

CapCut / Dreamina

Dreamina Seedance 2.0 reaches CapCut users in the US.

CapCut / Dreamina

Dreamina Seedance 2.0 starts rolling out in CapCut in select markets.

ChatGPT Images

OpenAI announces it is shutting down Sora: the app, the API and video in ChatGPT.

Recraft

Recraft V4 released with native SVG output.

Luma Dream Machine

Luma releases Ray3.14 with native 1080p.

Pika

Pika 2.5 rolls out to the consumer app.