Google is following through on recent promises to add more generative AI features to its photo and video products. Over on YouTube, Google is rolling out the first wave of generative AI video for YouTube Shorts, but even if you're not a YouTuber, you'll be exposed to more AI videos soon. Google Photos, which is integrated with virtually every Android phone on the market, is also getting AI video-generation capabilities. In both cases, the features are currently based on the older Veo 2 model, not the more capable Veo 3 that has been meming across the Internet since it was announced at I/O in May.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan confirmed earlier this summer that the company planned to add generative AI to the creator tools for YouTube Shorts. There were already tools to generate backgrounds for videos, but the next phase will involve creating new video elements from a text prompt.
Starting today, creators will be able to use a photo as the basis for a new generative AI video. YouTube also promises a collection of easily applied generative effects, which will be accessible from the Shorts camera. There's also a new AI playground hub that the company says will be home to all its AI tools, along with examples and suggested prompts to help people pump out AI content.
So far, all the YouTube AI video features are running on the Veo 2 model. The plan is still to move to Veo 3 later this summer. The AI features in YouTube Shorts are currently limited to the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, but they will expand to more countries later.
The new generative AI features in Google Photos are more limited in scale. Starting today, Photos users in the US only will begin seeing a similar set of features. Like YouTube, the app is gaining the ability to turn your photos into short videos, again, based on the older Veo 2 model. There are only two options for these animations: "Subtle movements" or "I'm feeling lucky." In the next few weeks, Photos will also get "Remix," a collection of styles that can be quickly chosen and applied to one of your images.
Where YouTube Shorts is getting the AI playground, Photos is getting the Create tab. It will serve a similar function, listing all the generative AI tools in the app, and it's going to make them harder to ignore, as it will get a prominent place in the bottom navigation bar. The Create tab will begin rolling out in August, and it's also US-only for now.
Google is also taking this opportunity to again stress that it uses its SynthID digital watermarking technology on all AI-generated images and videos. That theoretically makes it harder to pass off AI content as authentic. That may not be a big concern with videos based on Veo 2, but we've seen how much better Veo 3 is. Google also notes that it conducts ongoing safety analysis to prevent misuse of its AI video models, but that doesn't always stop determined trolls.
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