A Forbes investigation reveals that AI video startup Higsfield, despite rapid growth and a $1.3 billion valuation, has used misleading marketing tactics—including passing off stock footage as AI-generated content—and distributed racist and obscene AI videos to boost hype. The company also faces criticism for deceptive subscription practices, raising serious concerns about its ethics and sustainability.
A recent Forbes report highlights troubling issues at Higsfield, a rapidly growing AI video generation startup valued at $1.3 billion. The company, which boasts 15 million users and produces 4.5 million video clips daily, recently launched a new tool called Vibe Motion that converts text prompts into motion graphics. As part of its marketing push, Higsfield offered creators like London-based video game director Tim Sorrett $200 to share promotional content. However, Sorrett noticed that some of the videos provided were not AI-generated as claimed, but rather stock templates from sites like Envato with Higsfield’s logos added.
Forbes’ investigation found that while Sorrett declined to participate, other creators did share these misleading videos, helping to artificially boost Higsfield’s hype. The company’s co-founder, Mahi De Silva, admitted that the media kit containing stock footage was mistakenly shared by a marketing employee and described the situation as a process failure. Despite this, the incident raises questions about the authenticity of Higsfield’s marketing and the legitimacy of its rapid growth.
Higsfield’s platform offers a library of 400 presets and leverages 12 top-tier AI video models, making it a popular tool for creators and advertisers. The company is now the largest customer of OpenAI’s Sora 2 model and claims to have doubled its annualized revenue run rate to $200 million in just two weeks, with a further increase to $300 million by early February. CEO Alex Mashrab has set an ambitious goal of reaching a $1 billion annual run rate by year’s end. The startup has attracted significant venture capital funding and is reportedly seeking more investment.
However, Higsfield’s growth appears to be fueled by aggressive and sometimes unethical marketing tactics. According to multiple sources and documents reviewed by Forbes, the company has distributed folders containing racist and obscene AI-generated videos, including offensive depictions of popular children’s characters and non-consensual deepfakes of public figures. Some creators were offered payment to share these controversial clips, which aligns with Higsfield’s admitted strategy of pushing boundaries to attract attention on social media platforms.
In addition to questionable content, Higsfield has been accused of misleading customers with steeply discounted “unlimited” subscription plans. During a Black Friday promotion, the company promised unlimited access to powerful AI models for $25 a month—far less than competitors—but users soon found their video generation speeds throttled after only a few uses. These practices, combined with the use of stock footage and controversial marketing, cast a shadow over Higsfield’s impressive growth and raise concerns about its business ethics and long-term sustainability.