During its I/O developer conference on May 20, Google announced Veo 3, a new AI model for creating videos. It has vastly improved in comparison to Veo 2, but its most significant improvement is this: it can now generate videos using sound. This includes generic sound effects, background noise, and dialogue depending on the prompt.
In a press briefing (per TechCrunch), Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, said: “For the first time, we’re emerging from the silent era of video generation. [You can give Veo 3] a prompt describing characters and an environment, and suggest dialogue with a description of how you want it to sound.”
Currently, Veo 3 is only available for US-based Gemini Ultra subscribers and for enterprise users on Vertex AI. In addition to this, it is available in the AI filmmaking tool Flow. But what does everyone think of Veo 3? Is it worth it?
What do creators think about Veo 3?
In his YouTube video on the tool, Vince Opra noted how far generative AI has come. “So I think we can all agree that this technology has come a really long way already,” he said. He went on to say that he would “highly encourage” viewers to learn these tools to keep up with a competitive job market and “other humans” who are leveraging AI.
Meanwhile, in a 15-minute-long video, TheoreticallyMedia revealed he paid the hefty $250 subscription price for Gemini Ultra. But despite the product being impressive, the cost left him “concerned.”
“Now I have suggested to them [Google] adopting something a little more akin to what OpenAI did when they opened up the doors to Sora, namely, you know, sticking with the credits-based system,” he said. “But you know, when you run out of credits, you basically go into like the slow boat. Now, whether that suggestion ever ends up getting heard by the right people? I mean, I don’t know.”
Additionally, YouTube Short creator Julian Goldie tested the product himself, describing it as “absolutely wild.” Elsewhere, in his YouTube video testing out the tool, DoubtMeTech described the results as “kinda terrible,” as he noted how, despite spending 500 credits on his creation, the resultant video was of low quality and had no sound.
What do users think of Veo 3?
As for the rest of the internet, reactions were more mixed. One X user compared the realism of the product to a scene in Westworld where, in conversation with a humanoid asking if they’re human, the humanoid replied: “if you can’t tell, does it matter?”
“In an age of synthetic media, nothing is real anymore, and it does matter,” they wrote.
Another expressed concern over how the tool could be used to frame people for crimes, while a third shared a Veo 3-generated video and wrote: “Yeah, we’re doomed. This is completely AI-generated; all it took was a prompt. Sounds, visuals, all fake. And when I say we, I mean people who make films, tv, art, etc. Historians will still be needed… for now.”
