I Spent $125 to Generate 5 AI Videos a Day With Google's Veo 3. The Sound Sets It Apart

CNET

a day ago

I am just a girl who wants to be on a warm beach but most of the time, I'm trapped behind a computer screen. So, like any reporter who tests and reviews AI, I make my days more bearable by using these AI programs to create alternative-timeline versions of myself somewhere where Jimmy Buffett is playing and you can smell the salt. Here's what Google's newest AI video model, Veo 3, came up with.
My beach bonfire party dream-turned-prompt is usually my first test as I put a new AI generator through its paces. And I admit, I had pretty low expectations for Veo 3. While I did see some social media posts gawking at Veo 3's capabilities, I've seen enough slop and hallucinations to approach with skepticism. Google's AI creative products, in particular, have always felt like a bit of an afterthought to me, something the company adds on to its extensive Gemini offerings to compete with the other tech heavyweights. But this year at the company's annual I/O developer conference, Google's Imagen 4, Veo 3 and Flow all took center stage. So I dove into Veo 3.
Without spoiling anything, I walked away from Veo feeling like this was the next natural step for Google, with one feature in particular giving the company an edge that might make it a more serious contender in the AI creative space. But there are serious limits and annoyances that I hope are addressed soon. Here's how my experience went and what you need to know.
Veo 3 availability, pricing and privacy
Veo 3 is currently available for Gemini Ultra users in the US and enterprise Vertex users. In other words, you'll need to pay up to play around with the new Veo. Ultra is Gemini's newest, priciest tier at $250 per month. (It's currently half off for $125 per month for three months.) Vertex is Google's AI enterprise platform, and you'll know if you have access to it.
If you don't want to pay hundreds of dollars for access to Google's AI video tools -- and I don't blame you -- you can try out Veo 2 with Google AI's Pro plan. I found that the one-month free trial is enough time to figure out if you want to pay the $20 per month fee to continue using it. You can check out my hands-on testing with that model for more info.
Google's Gemini privacy policy says the company can collect your info to improve its technologies, which is why it recommends not sharing any confidential information with Gemini. You also agree to Google's prohibited use policy, which outlaws the creation of abusive or illegal content.
My wild ride with Veo 3
The most impressive thing about Veo 3 is its new audio generation capabilities. You don't have to tell Gemini in your prompt that you want sound; it will automatically add it. This is a first among competitors like OpenAI's Sora and Adobe's Firefly and it certainly gives Google a huge edge.
While the AI audio is a nice perk, it isn't perfect. If you're familiar with the somewhat clunky nature of AI-generated music and dialogue, you'll be able to identify it immediately. But there were times when it flowed more naturally. The clashing metal sounds and grunts in my alien fight scene were timed perfectly to their attacks, something that would've been difficult to add on my own afterward. But the dinosaur-like aliens also literally say "roar" and "hiss" instead of making those noises.
My kayaker's paddling very nearly matched up with the water sloshing sound. The nature ambience in that video was particularly lovely and added a layer of depth that's been missing from AI videos. My dream beach bonfire partiers didn't sound like any party I've ever been to, but still, points for being first and relatively unproblematic.
Of course, while the audio was nice, it doesn't take away from the weird eccentricities that continue to plague AI generators. I ran into a few hiccups, mostly with people's faces, a notoriously hard thing for AI to mimic. But compared to the glaringly obvious errors I ran into with Veo 2, the new generation does appear to have made real improvements as Google claimed it did.
I run into hallucinations a lot when I'm testing AI image and video generators, so the first thing I do is look for whether a service gives me the ability to edit it. Veo 3 doesn't offer any of these, which is a bummer. It's certainly something that's going to make it less useful for professional creators, who are used to more fine-tuning editing tools and need to make precise tweaks for their projects. You can send a follow-up prompt asking for specific changes. For example, I asked Veo to change the angle in the previous video so I could see her face, which the program handled well.
With Veo 3, you'll typically have to wait 3 to 5 minutes for a new, edited video to load, though. Veo 3 has the longest generation time of any AI video generator I've tested. But the addition of audio to the videos excuses the longer wait time in my eyes.
The worst part of Veo 3 is how quickly I hit my daily generation limit. After only five videos, I was barred for an entire 24-hour period -- something that really annoyed me and made it much harder to assess. Google's VP of Gemini and Google Labs, Josh Woodward, said in a post on X/Twitter that Ultra subscribers like me have the highest number of generations that reset daily, in the regular Gemini app and in Flow. And for me, that limit in Gemini was five videos. Flow's limit is 125, according to Woodward.
I reached out to Google to get clarity on what the daily limit is for Ultra users creating through Gemini that Woodward mentions. Here's the response: "Google AI Ultra subscribers get the highest level of access to Veo 3, our state-of-the-art video generation model, which they can use in both the Gemini app and Flow, our new AI filmmaking tool."
The limits are another sign that this isn't a tool meant for professional creation and iterative editing. You need to spend time thoughtfully crafting your prompt and if Google flubs a face or glitches, you're likely to run out of credits fast and end up out of luck. Veo 3 is better suited for AI enthusiasts who want to dip their toes in video creation, not creators experimenting with AI.
Is Veo 3 worth the cost?
After an underwhelming experience with Veo 2, I had reservations about what to expect in the usefulness and accuracy of Veo 3. But the new model was impressive, the audio especially, even though it's still missing some key features.
Let me be clear: There is no rational reason to spend hundreds of dollars on a Gemini Ultra plan only to use Veo 3. If you want to dabble for fun, you can do that with Veo 2 for hundreds less per month, and if you're a creative professional, Veo 3 still lacks crucial features like editing. The Ultra plan does offer other features, like YouTube Premium, 30 terabytes of space and access to the newest Gemini models. So if you want any of those things, then, yeah, pay up and go play around with Veo 3. But it's not worth it on its own.
Veo 3 isn't the revolutionary upgrade those social media posts might lead you to believe. It is the next generation, better than last month's Veo 2, and it shows real promise in Google's future AI video endeavors. But be prepared to pay up if you want to try it out.