What is an AI video card? (And which part of ours isn't AI)

An AI video card is a greeting card made as a short video, where the music, the visuals or the people in it were created with AI tools. Tangy Limes cards are partly that: the original songs and the dance scenes are made with AI tools, but the face on the dancer is your real face, cut out of your own photo, with nothing generated about it.

That split matters more than it sounds, so here's what's what.

The AI parts

The songs. Every card has its own original song, made with AI music tools. One of them is a polka. We stand by it.

The dancers and the places. The scenes are AI-generated video: an 80s arena rock stage with pyro, a 70s disco with a light-up floor, a Paris street at night with the Eiffel Tower behind. The dancers were never real people. They're dressed for the occasion, choreographed, and standing there waiting for a head.

A custom song, if you want one. Say what the song should be about, AI tools draft the words, you read them and change anything you like, and then it's sung for your card, timed to its dance.

The part that isn't

Your face. When you upload a photo, the faces in it are found and cut out in your browser. The cutout goes on the dancer as it is. It isn't regenerated, smoothed, de-aged or turned into a lookalike. If your photo has a squint, the music video has a squint.

The one thing that moves is the mouth, opening and closing to the words of the song. That's why it looks like you're singing, and it's the part that makes the card.

That's the difference from apps that generate a new picture of you from your photo. Those make someone who looks like you. A cutout is you, from that day, in that light, with that haircut you've since apologized for.

Why we do it this way

Mostly because it's funnier. The joke is that it's really your uncle, real moustache, real barbecue face, fronting a heavy metal band. A generated, slightly too handsome uncle is a different joke, and not a good one. The realness is the punchline.

Also because a face is personal. Photos are processed on your device, and nothing about anyone's face gets invented.

Shred Your Birthday is the arena rock one, with a giant inflatable birthday cake. Birthday Disco Fever fits three faces, from the light-up floor to a confetti shower. Ooh La La Anniversary goes from a Paris street to a café to a riverboat on the Seine. Pawty Animals fits two people and two pets, and the dog's real face goes on a dancing dog, which looks exactly as ridiculous as you're picturing.

Try it on yourself

The preview is free, so the quickest way to see the difference is to add a selfie to Shred Your Birthday and watch your own face headbang on an arena stage. If you like it, keeping the MP4 is $1.99, with no subscription. If you don't, close the tab, and the only thing that happened is you saw yourself in a metal band, which honestly is a good afternoon.

So, is it an AI card? The music and the dancers, yes. The face, no. That one's all you.