Economist's "Luma Delenda Est" Tweet Coincides with Luma AI's Ambitious $3.2 Billion Valuation Target

Prominent economist Noah Smith recently posted a stark message on social media, stating "Luma delenda est" on August 29, 2025. This phrase, echoing the ancient Roman declaration "Carthago delenda est" (Carthage must be destroyed), suggests a strong, critical stance against Luma AI, a leading company in generative video and 3D creation. The provocative tweet comes as Luma AI navigates a period of significant growth and faces intense market scrutiny.

Luma AI is reportedly seeking to raise at least $1.1 billion in new funding, targeting a valuation of $3.2 billion. This represents a nearly thirteen-fold increase from its valuation in early 2024. The company, founded in 2021, has already secured approximately $157 million in total funding, including a $90 million Series C round in December 2024 with participation from Amazon and AMD.

The company's flagship product, Dream Machine, and its advanced Ray2 generative video model enable users to create realistic video clips from text prompts and images. Luma AI has been actively expanding its reach, integrating its Ray2 model into Amazon Bedrock in January 2025 and launching Dream Lab LA in July 2025 to foster collaboration with Hollywood filmmakers. Furthermore, a strategic partnership with HUMAIN AI in May 2025 aims to accelerate multimodal AGI research and deployment.

Despite its rapid advancements and ambitious financial targets, Luma AI operates in a highly competitive and evolving landscape. The company faces significant competition from tech giants like OpenAI with its Sora model, Google's Veo, and other startups such as Runway AI. Industry challenges include the potential for model commoditization, growing concerns over content authenticity, and the volatile costs associated with high-performance computing, which could underpin the sentiment expressed in Smith's tweet.