Google's got a brand new AI video generator, and it's so sophisticated that we're starting to sweat around the collar a bit.

Google DeepMind describes the new model, Veo 3, as capable of delivering "best in class quality, excelling in physics, realism and prompt adherence" — and as videos posted to social media indicate, that marketing doesn't fall too far short.

The caliber of the video is indeed impressive. But the real quantum leap is that the system can produce audio that goes with the clip, ranging from sound effects to music to human speech and singing.

The internet was quick to riff on all those capabilities, sometimes in the very same clip.

They often got pretty meta. In one clip posted to the r/Singularity subreddit, lifelike AI "actors" discuss the range of actions new model can generate.

"We can talk!" one of the non-people exclaims.

"No more silence!" another enthuses.

As users commented on the thread, commercials and other human creations could soon be "cooked" thanks to the rapidly-accellerating technology.

"Netflix will be the first to roll this out," another prophesied. "I should buy some stock. People will watch this shit like crazy."

Over on Elon Musk's X, that mix of loathing and excitement was similarly palpable.

In a lengthy thread, the AI-boosting account TechHalla showcased Veo 3 videos ranging from the fantastical (a giraffe riding a moped through Manhattan) to the mundane (a man teaching a classroom full of old people).

The video generator's artificial physics were on full display in TechHalla's roundup, with one showing a paper boat floating in a puddle before falling into a street hole looking more like the real thing and less like an animated still life than Veo 3's predecessors.

The thread's standout, to our minds, was one showing a girl typing on a custom keyboard in a simulacrum of autonomous sensory meridian response, which is better known as ASMR. On first blush, it seems nothing spectacular is going on — until one recalls that AI image and video generators often used to struggle to make lifelike hands and fingers. And the online personalities who create ASMR content professionally? They'll be quaking in their whisper-quiet boots after this one.

Given its sophistication, it's no surprise that Google DeepMind's latest creation can also generate horrific content, too.

Posted on Reddit, one clip shows a dirty-looking man in a dimly-lit bar begging whoever generated him to, well, not.

"Please don't finish writing that prompt," the man implores. "I don't want to be in your AI movie!"

The video then switches to an apparent post-apocalyptic street scene where the man and a female companion are seen trudging through rubble. The woman runs up to the non-existent camera and begs the viewer to "write a prompt that will make us happy."

"Do it for once!" she shouts — and for just a second, we almost believed her.

Obviously, the "people" in that clip, like the others before it, are not real and were intentionally modeled via prompting to tug at our heartstrings — but these videos' ability to do so is pretty freaky.

More on AI video: The Newest "Will Smith Eating Spaghetti" Video Includes AI-Generated Squelching and Chomping Sounds That Just Might Make You Sick


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