Vine, a Twitter-owned Short Video App, Set to Return in AI Form After 8 Years

Twitter-owned short video app Vine is set to return in AI form after 8 years as part of a strategic move back into the social media circles. Known for its peculiar six-second looping clips, this anticipated platform will now be revamped through Artificial Intelligence. The announcement came through a tweet by Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), which read, “We’re bringing back Vine, but in AI form,” but he has given no indication on when it will be relaunched or what the AI integration will look like.

Vine originally started in 2012, created by Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov, and Colin Kroll as a social media app dedicated to sharing very short, looping videos capped at six seconds each. Twitter recognized its potential early on and acquired Vine for about $30 million before its official public launch. Once launched in 2013, Vine quickly became famous for a new style of creative storytelling; here, users did short quick, often funny moments in a short video format. Its unique camera function-ed only when pressed, making innovative editing and stop-motion possible. Over the years, Vine had introduced other features such views such as grid and ghost images in the camera, curated video channels, and choice for reshare and protect videos.

Unlike YouTube, what defined Vine was emphasis on every user’s creativity above building followings around a few popular creators whom many adored. Simple actions, like flipping a water bottle, would quickly catch fire as a challenge throughout the site. By late 2015, Vine boasted more than 200 million active users and was well entrenched in a burgeoning short-video market, side-by-side with Instagram and Snapchat as the main contenders.

Vine set to return in AI form after 8 years

Though it had a great start, Vine was never spared by Twitter from being shut down in 2017. Its reason went along all the arguments used by financial analysts. Incredibly, economically, Vine brought in some impressive traffic, with viewers who engaged with their audience. However, it never really fulfilled the requirement for relationships with such creators on the monetary side. This was quite unlike YouTube, where ad revenues could be shared, or through brand partnerships and sponsored Reels as in Instagram. Content creators, who make up the vast majority of Vines, left the platform for other options that would generate income from their hundreds of thousands of followers, resulting in a shrinking user base. As lesser users watched videos, revenues from advertising declined, making the app unaffordable to sustain. From late 2016 onwards, Twitter began to disable uploads and shut down Vine officially in January 2017. An online archive of all Vine videos launched-off activities but was discontinued in 2019.

Understood as of now, the AI-formatted Vine will actually change from what it once was as it promises to mold the short-videography content industry in very serious terms. Building on transforming the short-form video into the emerging alternative of consuming content online, Vine would have to compete with TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, probably through offering additional revenue opportunities through new AI technology improvements on video creation and reach to users. Short categories of AI-manufactured videos would find Vine’s former six-second setting much like how most AI video tools produce shorts for easier and more affordable means than longer ones.

To this effect, the revival of Vine uses an already strong base of users since X, social media owned by Musk, has around 650 million active users. The timing for such a launch is just as timely as short-form video content continues to grow speedily in numbers. A report from July 2025 revealed that 60% of short videos are watched for most of their length. Moreover, a significant portion of Generation Z prefers to learn about products and services via short videos, which receive way more engagement than longer ones. The nostalgia effect of the app combined with the new AI-powered functionalities should turn the Vine revival into possibly swaying trends as it would resurrect old favorites into the very best competitive landscape with fresh entry values.

Twitter-owned short video app Vine is set to return in AI form after 8 years. Reviving the much-loved platform by Elon Musk has been a bold move towards reintroducing its unique short-loop video format but enhanced by AI capabilities. Essentially, the initiative aims at developing a robust ecosystem that will improve monetisation and breathe new life into the short-video social space presently dominated by TikTok and Instagram. Although scant on launch timeline and specific features, the news offers a glimpse of how classic social media will be transformed by artificial intelligence in the near future.

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