Runway deployed Characters in March 2026, a real-time AI system that generates a fully expressive, conversational video avatar from a single reference image, with synchronized lip movements, facial expressions, and gestures, available via the Runway API and web app.

Runway Characters is built on GWM-1, Runway's General World Model, and generates video at 24 fps in HD with a server-side response latency of approximately 1.75 seconds. The system accepts a single reference image as input and can animate characters across a wide range of styles — photorealistic to cartoonish — while supporting customizable voice, personality, knowledge base, and actions via API. Enterprise teams can build custom implementations; preset avatars are available to general web app users. Runway's product page describes customer support, education, and sales training as target use cases.