If you have a tool that offers endless possibilities at your fingertips, what do you create? Perhaps you'll create a masterpiece. Or you might be overwhelmed by being put in place by technology before you come up with the worst video idea you've ever had and freeze.
Probably it's me alone. Google has announced the latest and most advanced video creation model, the VEO 3, for Ireland users. Available with a Google One AI subscription. This is 22 euros a month on Google's AI Pro. This includes the right 1,000 AI credits including Google's productivity and email product Gemini, Google Drive's 2TB storage, and creating photos, emails, and videos.
The thoughts about it were very exciting. A tool that lets you spit realistic video clips from several text prompts. The reality was that they were wasted the first few credits on nonsense.
One of the biggest concerns about AI growth was the possibility of taking over human work. The second biggest concern was that AI-generated videos and deepfakes become more common.
Will the latest rounds of AI tools help to ease those fears? In most cases, no.
Because Veo 3 doesn't just create simple clips. Based on the features of VEO 2, the clips are cinematic, and the model generates audio such as ambient noise and creates dialogs of characters on the screen. This technology understands camera angles and framing. You can say to use a specific look or lens style. It's everything you expected to need human input.
However, the clip length is limited to 8 seconds. That means many quick generation for those that don't create reasonable social media clips.
When I finally came up with something I wanted to create, it was a simple process. VEO takes 1-2 minutes to generate each clip, unless you give detailed instructions.
The first is a video of a backyard kids party at dusk, with Teppy tents, buntings and little kids playing.
The second one with input from younger members of the family was a cartoon style vegetable wedding. The carrot was a tuxedo. Dramatic Hook: objection to the lawsuit that stopped the wedding. For 8 seconds, the kids were engrossed in.
Google is trying to step into the fine lines here. The VEO output is almost always so realistic that it will trick you. Sometimes you still need human input. Like most AI, Veo is not perfect. For example, the beach video begins with a wave that involves a couple sitting on the beach, showing completely dry people sitting a few feet away from the water line. The IMDB Goofs section of this particular film has a field day.
The children's party video had a glitch with strangely isolated limbs. The carrots in the cartoon sounded good, but the subtitles that accompanied it (not asked) – made no sense.
You also need to be specific about the soundtrack. If you want ambient noise, say that. The first attempt in the restaurant scene was the quietest I've ever heard of a complete facility. No one spoke, and you could hear cutlery being used in a way that normally blended into the background noise. There was a difference when I added “realistic restaurant background noise.” This is why Prompt Engineering is a unique area of expertise.
For obvious reasons, there are a few things that Veo simply refuses to do. Unless you are patience to find a way to restrict Veo and Gemini, you will be bound by the policy of the service.
It didn't make a video of a particular controversial tech monk dancing around a campfire. As for Irish politicians, Gemini refused to make a video of Taojeech wearing a Santa hat at a mock Christmas party.
[ New Bill targets AI ‘deepfakes’ and identity ‘hijacking’Opens in new window ]
Depending on the subscription you have, you will also find yourself limited to creating a certain number of videos per month.
Flow created a dystopian cityscape with corrupt buildings and abandoned cars with soundtracks using VEO 3 at Google's AI studio, which is not yet available in Ireland. I created two versions by default. You can make it four. They all got marks on the visuals.
But the actual test was the most realistic video I've created – the black cat, stalking prey while slapping through the grass. It looked striking like a pet in our family, so I sent it to several families via WhatsApp.
I was not asked if it was AI. The task has been accomplished.
good
If you have a particular scene in mind, Veo can help you make it happen. The trick is to know what you want and be very specific about it. The prompt is important. The more you give your VEO, the more likely you will get what you want.
bad
Sometimes it generates some flawed AI slops, such as the subsequent magic waves.
Everything else
You need to stick to the rules set out by Gemini. Deepfakes come out as offensive, just like they're creating content.
verdict:
AI-generated content is easier and more convincing. VEO 3 makes another big leap to this front line.
