Google Cloud has introduced Veo, a video generation model, and Imagen 3, an advanced image generation tool, on its Vertex AI platform. Veo, currently in private preview, generates high-quality videos from text or image prompts. It enables businesses to create realistic and coherent footage efficiently, reducing production time and costs.
“Veo, now available on Vertex AI in private preview, empowers companies to effortlessly generate high-quality videos from simple text or image prompts. As the first hyperscaler to offer an image-to-video model, we’re helping companies transform their existing creative assets into dynamic visuals,” the company said in its blog post.
Imagen 3, now generally available, offers photorealistic image generation with improved detail and reduced visual artifacts compared to earlier versions. Imagen 3 incorporates editing tools and customisation options, allowing businesses to align output with brand requirements.
Businesses like Mondelez International and WPP are using these models to accelerate content creation. Mondelez has utilised Imagen 3 for marketing campaigns and plans to adopt Veo for video production.
WPP is integrating these tools into its AI-powered platform, WPP Open, to enhance creative workflows. Agoda, a digital travel platform, is experimenting with these technologies to develop customised visuals for promotions.
Developed by Google DeepMind, Veo includes safety features such as digital watermarking, safety filters, and data governance measures.
Earlier, Google announced that YouTube is set to roll out advanced generative AI tools to creators over the coming months, enabling them to generate video content using AI models Veo and Imagen 3 through a feature called Dream Screen.
Sora Steals Spotlight for Wrong Reasons
Meanwhile, OpenAI’s popular text-to-video tool, Sora, recently became the talk of the internet because of its recent leak on Hugging Face. Sora’s API got leaked and became available for some artists as early testing.
However, not long after the tool’s leak, the Hugging Face page seemed to be failing with the 502 error due to high traffic. The company got light of this incident soon enough and shut down the access three hours post revelation. OpenAI has yet to release Sora officially.
Competition Galores: With the rise and impact of other tools like Runway, Pika Midjourney and KlingAI over the past year, it has become difficult for creators to think back to the capabilities of Sora.
Runway recently partnered with top entertainment and media company Lionsgate to develop customised versions of Gen-3 Alpha. Unlike OpenAI, Runway has also made Gen-3 Alpha available to all users, though the model remains subscription-based.
Meta also recently introduced its video generation model, Movie Gen, a 13B parameter model designed for video and text-to-audio generation. Its chief features include generating videos from text, editing videos with text, producing personalised videos, and creating sound effects. The model is not publicly available yet.
China also took this opportunity to emerge as a major competitor, surpassing the capabilities of several existing platforms. Kuaishou, a Chinese competitor to TikTok, launched its powerful AI video tool, Kling, this year, which users have adopted as a direct alternative to Sora. Tencent also released its 13B open-source HuanYuan video generation model.
(With Inputs from Sanjana Gupta, AIM Journalist)