Google recently introduced its newest text-to-video AI model, Veo, to compete with OpenAI’s Sora. Unveiled during Google I/O, Veo builds upon techniques from prior video models to improve consistency, quality, and resolution, providing high-quality 1080p videos that exceed one minute in length and showcase impeccable quality.
While some were impressed with Veo’s capabilities, others argue that it may not exactly be state-of-the-art regarding its latency or abilities compared to Sora.
Google invited multiple filmmakers to experiment with Veo and even aired a short film by Donald Glover at I/O 2024.
On the other hand, Open AI is pitching its video AI Sora to Hollywood and has plans to release it publicly later this year, potentially integrating it with video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro.
Is Veo better than Sora?
The comparison between the two models is still a topic of debate, as neither model has been released yet. Nonetheless, many believe that Veo will be a strong competitor to Sora.
A demo that has been shared several times features a lone cowboy riding across an open plain during a beautiful sunset. This image feels reminiscent of videos showcased by OpenAI’s Sora, highlighting potential similarities between the two models.
✍️ Prompt: “A lone cowboy rides his horse across an open plain at beautiful sunset, soft light, warm colors.” pic.twitter.com/D8uKDZVWto
— Google DeepMind (@GoogleDeepMind) May 14, 2024
Let’s take a look at some of Veo’s standout features.
- Realism and Visual Control
Veo’s flexibility is showcased through its ability to adapt to diverse user inputs and prompts effectively, adding an extra layer of realism to generated videos. Veo offers an exceptional level of consistency, coherence, and realism, which sets it apart from other platforms by providing videos with superior visual quality.
Additionally, the neural network can allegedly understand prompts for various cinematic effects, allowing users to include filmmaking terms such as “time-lapse,” “aerial shot,” and “panning shot” in their descriptions to achieve the desired motion accurately.
On the other hand, Sora utilises advanced algorithms and deep learning techniques to create videos, often resulting in slight variations between frames. Unlike Veo, videos created with Sora frequently have distorted intricate details.
- Ease of Use
As mentioned before, the Veo model understands complex camera movements and visual effects specified in prompts, such as “pan,” “zoom,” or “explosion.” This capability simplifies the video creation process for users, allowing them to create dynamic narratives effortlessly.
While Sora offers similar features, Veo stands out by emphasising user control, which enhances the overall ease of use for those looking for a seamless content creation experience.
- Video Length Continuity
Users can effortlessly extend video lengths with a simple click, enhancing the overall viewing experience. Moreover, Veo ensures that each frame maintains continuity, avoiding the jarring transformations or artefacts commonly seen in Sora-generated content.
In contrast, Sora’s approach to visual quality can introduce subtle inconsistencies between frames due to its underlying algorithms. This difference becomes apparent when examining the intricate details within videos.
Meanwhile, according to reviews, Veo excels in preserving characters, objects, and styles seamlessly. By leveraging cutting-edge latent diffusion transformers, Veo minimises discrepancies effectively, resulting in visually stunning and lifelike video outputs.
- Maintaining Video Sequences
Veo boasts an array of impressive capabilities, including the ability to edit existing videos using text commands, ensuring visual consistency across frames, and generating video sequences lasting over 60 seconds from a single prompt or a series of prompts forming a narrative.
“When given both an input video and editing command, like adding kayaks to an aerial shot of a coastline, Veo can apply this command to the initial video and create a new, edited video,” the company claimed.
On the other hand, Sora has distinguished itself by producing highly detailed and realistic short video clips. However, it falls short in comparison to Veo as it currently lacks the advanced video editing and narrative generation features that Veo is purported to possess.
A user on Reddit said, “Notice that the Veo demo doesn’t show a single human face, or any human bodies except in complete silhouette. Compare Veo to Sora in terms of the amount of movement, level of detail, diversity of style, and ability to merge concepts. It’s not close.”
These discussions about which one is better will continue as mentioned before, but there won’t be a clear winner until the models are made available to the public.
