Google has started rolling out a new AI-driven feature for customers of its paid Gemini AI assistant, enabling users to create short video loops from still photos.
The feature is initially available to subscribers of the Gemini Ultra and Pro plans in certain locations and is currently available through the web version of Gemini, with mobile app support due to be added later this week.
The new feature allows users to create 8-second video messages with sound from a single image, supplemented by optional text prompts. The produced videos are returned in the MP4 file format, 720p resolution, and a 16:9 landscape orientation, as per a Bloomberg report.
Underpinning this innovation is Veo 3, Google's newest video generation model, initially revealed during its I/O developer conference in May. Veo 3 has also driven Flow, Google's stand-alone paid video creation tool. Through this integration into Gemini, Google hopes to make sophisticated video generation more widely accessible through its mass-market AI assistant.
For ensuring security and ethical practices, Google has placed stringent measures. The tool disallows video creation from photographs of public personalities like celebrities and politicians and also inhibits content that supports offensive behavior, violence, or bullying.
A Google representative described how, although the model is not programmed to change facial appearance on purpose, the photo-to-video technology is in its infancy. "There's no particular command in the model to transform someone's face," they said, while admitting that things do not always turn out perfectly or remain true to the original picture. They also pointed out that the AI works best with landscape shots of nature, objects, sketches, and artwork, with future facial animation improvements on the cards for subsequent updates.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai made the announcement in a X post, saying:
"Since I/O in May, you've created 40M+ videos with Veo 3! Now our new photo to video feature in the @Geminiapp allows you to create clips inspired by the world around you. Here's how I imagine our resident dino Stan roams the Google campus when we're not looking:) Ultra/Pro subscribers can try it now at http://gemini.google.com."
By integrating the tool directly into the Gemini chat experience, Google continues to position itself in competition with firms like OpenAI and Runway AI Inc., who focus on AI-created video. The global market for AI-based media tools is heating up, with Alibaba's Manus and Kuaishou Technology becoming competitors in China as well, launching or improving similar video-making technology.
With Veo 3's feature now integrated into Gemini, Google is at the forefront of the democratization of creative video creation via AI.
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