The Dawn of AI-Generated Realism
Veo 3 distinguishes itself from previous tools by creating video, as well as dialogue, music, and sound effects. It fits well with detailed input and will respect visual coherence, accurate lip-synch, and physically based realism. In sharp contrast to the prior model, this produces humans with realistic features — such as a correct number of fingers and facial expressions. Most of the videos don’t have the usual tells of AI making, toward the end of making them even more persuasive.

One rhizome screen produced by filmmaker and molecular biologist Hashem Al-Ghaili features AI-generated characters pondering their artificial existence. Such short films have astonished viewers with their realism but also raised questions like what this means for the future of stories.

Tool of Creativity or Menace to Artists?
Veo 3 was launched at Google I/O and is now available to U.S. users starting at $249/month on the Google AI Ultra plan. According to Google, the model was designed with input from filmmakers and other creatives. In promotional copy, the filmmaker Dave Clark describes the apparatus as so close to autonomous in the thinking department, that it seems, on some levels, to think for itself.

Mixed reactions have greeted the news, however. While some creatives look forward to the freedom, others are anxious or simply dismissive. There’s been increasing concern over originality and authorship. For example, the tool was said to recycle the same bad joke for different user prompts, suggesting a lack of creative variety.

The Road Ahead
Some AI analysts think that Veo 3 could prove useful in commercial areas like marketing and media production. However, there are still some major questions about how the model was trained and how it affects originality. In one case, Veo 3 recreated a plant so surprisingly similar to the one on a popular tech reviewer’s desk that real-world video references were apparently used in training.

As ultra-realistic AI videos become easier and easier to make, questions about consent, content rights and the future of filmmaking are only just getting started. Tools like Veo 3 are a testament to the expanding boundaries of creative technology — but they’re also shining a light on the struggle to create clear frameworks in a digital age that’s evolving at a breakneck pace.