As anticipated after days of leaks and rumors on-line, Google has unveiled Veo 3.1, its newest AI video era mannequin, bringing a collection of inventive and technical upgrades geared toward enhancing narrative management, audio integration, and realism in AI-generated video.
Whereas the updates develop potentialities for hobbyists and content material creators utilizing Google’s on-line AI creation app, Flow, the discharge additionally indicators a rising alternative for enterprises, builders, and artistic groups looking for scalable, customizable video instruments.
The standard is greater, the physics higher, the pricing the identical as earlier than, and the management and modifying options extra sturdy and assorted.
My initial tests confirmed it to be a strong and performant mannequin that instantly delights with every era. Nonetheless, the look is extra cinematic, polished and slightly extra “synthetic” than by default than rivals akin to OpenAI’s new Sora 2, launched late final month, which can or will not be what a specific consumer goes after (Sora excels at handheld and “candid” model movies).
Expanded Management Over Narrative and Audio
Veo 3.1 builds on its predecessor, Veo 3 (released back in May 2025) with enhanced help for dialogue, ambient sound, and different audio results.
Native audio era is now obtainable throughout a number of key options in Circulate, together with “Frames to Video,” “Elements to Video,” and “Prolong,” which give customers the flexibility to, respectively: flip nonetheless pictures into video; use objects, characters and objects from a number of pictures in a single video; and generate longer clips than the preliminary 8 seconds, to greater than 30 seconds and even 1+ plus when persevering with from a previous clip’s last body.
Earlier than, you had so as to add audio manually after utilizing these options.
This addition provides customers larger command over tone, emotion, and storytelling — capabilities which have beforehand required post-production work.
In enterprise contexts, this stage of management might cut back the necessity for separate audio pipelines, providing an built-in strategy to create coaching content material, advertising movies, or digital experiences with synchronized sound and visuals.
Google famous in a blog post that the updates mirror consumer suggestions calling for deeper creative management and improved audio help. Gallegos emphasizes the significance of constructing edits and refinements attainable straight in Circulate, with out remodeling scenes from scratch.
Richer Inputs and Enhancing Capabilities
With Veo 3.1, Google introduces help for a number of enter sorts and extra granular management over generated outputs. The mannequin accepts textual content prompts, pictures, and video clips as enter, and in addition helps:
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Reference pictures (as much as three) to information look and elegance within the last output
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First and final body interpolation to generate seamless scenes between fastened endpoints
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Scene extension that continues a video’s motion or movement past its present length
These instruments purpose to offer enterprise customers a strategy to fine-tune the appear and feel of their content material—helpful for model consistency or adherence to inventive briefs.
Extra capabilities like “Insert” (add objects to scenes) and “Take away” (delete parts or characters) are additionally being launched, although not all are instantly obtainable by way of the Gemini API.
Deployment Throughout Platforms
Veo 3.1 is accessible by way of a number of of Google’s present AI companies:
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Flow, Google’s personal interface for AI-assisted filmmaking
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Gemini API, focused at builders constructing video capabilities into purposes
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Vertex AI, the place enterprise integration will quickly help Veo’s “Scene Extension” and different key options
Availability by way of these platforms permits enterprise prospects to decide on the proper atmosphere—GUI-based or programmatic—based mostly on their groups and workflows.
Pricing and Entry
The Veo 3.1 mannequin is at present in preview and obtainable solely on the paid tier of the Gemini API. The price construction is similar as Veo 3, the previous era of AI video fashions from Google.
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Commonplace mannequin: $0.40 per second of video
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Quick mannequin: $0.15 per second
There is no such thing as a free tier, and customers are charged provided that a video is efficiently generated. This mannequin is per earlier Veo variations and supplies predictable pricing for budget-conscious enterprise groups.
Technical Specs and Output Management
Veo 3.1 outputs video at 720p or 1080p decision, with a 24 fps body fee.
Length choices embody 4, 6, or 8 seconds from a textual content immediate or uploaded pictures, with the flexibility to increase movies as much as 148 seconds (greater than 2 and half minutes!) when utilizing the “Prolong” characteristic.
New performance additionally consists of tighter management over topics and environments. For instance, enterprises can add a product picture or visible reference, and Veo 3.1 will generate scenes that protect its look and stylistic cues throughout the video. This might streamline inventive manufacturing pipelines for retail, promoting, and digital content material manufacturing groups.
Preliminary Reactions
The broader creator and developer neighborhood has responded to Veo 3.1’s launch with a mixture of optimism and tempered critique—notably when evaluating it to rival fashions like OpenAI’s Sora 2.
Matt Shumer, an AI founding father of Otherside AI/Hyperwrite, and early adopter, described his preliminary response as “disappointment,” noting that Veo 3.1 is “noticeably worse than Sora 2” and in addition “fairly a bit dearer.”
Nonetheless, he acknowledged that Google’s tooling—akin to help for references and scene extension—is a vibrant spot within the launch.
Travis Davids, a 3D digital artist and AI content material creator, echoed a few of that sentiment. Whereas he famous enhancements in audio high quality, notably in sound results and dialogue, he raised issues about limitations that stay within the system.
These embody the dearth of customized voice help, an lack of ability to pick generated voices straight, and the continued cap at 8-second generations—regardless of some public claims about longer outputs.
Davids additionally identified that character consistency throughout altering digicam angles nonetheless requires cautious prompting, whereas different fashions like Sora 2 deal with this extra robotically. He questioned the absence of 1080p decision for customers on paid tiers like Circulate Professional and expressed skepticism over characteristic parity.
On the extra optimistic finish, @kimmonismus, an AI publication author, acknowledged that “Veo 3.1 is wonderful,” although nonetheless concluded that OpenAI’s newest mannequin stays preferable total.
Collectively, these early impressions recommend that whereas Veo 3.1 delivers significant tooling enhancements and new inventive management options, expectations have shifted as opponents increase the bar on each high quality and value.
Adoption and Scale
Since launching Circulate 5 months in the past, Google says over 275 million movies have been generated throughout numerous Veo fashions.
The tempo of adoption suggests important curiosity not solely from people but additionally from builders and companies experimenting with automated content material creation.
Thomas Iljic, Director of Product Administration at Google Labs, highlights that Veo 3.1’s launch brings capabilities nearer to how human filmmakers plan and shoot. These embody scene composition, continuity throughout photographs, and coordinated audio—all areas that enterprises more and more look to automate or streamline.
Security and Accountable AI Use
Movies generated with Veo 3.1 are watermarked utilizing Google’s SynthID know-how, which embeds an imperceptible identifier to sign that the content material is AI-generated.
Google applies security filters and moderation throughout its APIs to assist reduce privateness and copyright dangers. Generated content material is saved quickly and deleted after two days except downloaded.
For builders and enterprises, these options present reassurance round provenance and compliance—vital in regulated or brand-sensitive industries.
The place Veo 3.1 Stands Amongst a Crowded AI Video Mannequin Area
Veo 3.1 isn’t just an iteration on prior fashions—it represents a deeper integration of multimodal inputs, storytelling management, and enterprise-level tooling. Whereas inventive professionals might even see fast advantages in modifying workflows and constancy, companies exploring automation in coaching, promoting, or digital experiences might discover even larger worth within the mannequin’s composability and API help.
The early consumer suggestions highlights that whereas Veo 3.1 presents invaluable tooling, expectations round realism, voice management, and era size are evolving quickly. As Google expands entry by way of Vertex AI and continues refining Veo, its aggressive positioning in enterprise video era will hinge on how rapidly these consumer ache factors are addressed.
