a16z Podcast: fal Co-founder Gorkem Yurtseven Discusses Real-Time AI Video and Creator Workflows
a16z General Partner Jennifer Li interviews fal co-founder Gorkem Yurtseven and Head of Engineering Batuhan Taskaya regarding the shift to real-time generative video. The episode details the technical foundation of H3 Max, the strategic move from inference platforms to post-training, and the evolving challenges of controllability in professional creative workflows.
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The a16z podcast published this episode on September 17, 2026, hosted by General Partner Jennifer Li. Guests are Gorkem Yurtseven, co-founder of fal, and Batuhan Taskaya, Head of Engineering at fal. The conversation centers on how creator workflows change when generative video becomes fast enough to run in real time.
According to the episode description, the discussion unpacks the technical work behind H3 Max, fal’s post-trained version of MiniMax’s open-weight video model. The guests explore how combining model post-training with systems and hardware optimization significantly reduced generation time while maintaining quality. The episode also addresses the next challenge being less about speed and more about control—such as camera movement, lighting, characters, motion, and lip sync—and what these capabilities mean for professional creative workflows requiring predictable tools.