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Interesting that OpenAI abandoned Sora entirely but Google are continuing to invest heavily in their own video generation. Maybe because they see video generat

by simonw 2mo ago

Interesting that OpenAI abandoned Sora entirely but Google are continuing to invest heavily in their own video generation. Maybe because they see video generation as key to developing "world models"?

kfarr 2mo ago
Also Google already has a huge built in training corpus with YouTube, gphotos, and geospatial data
OtherShrezzing 2mo ago
10% of their revenue comes from YouTube, so they need to make sure that they own any technology that might disrupt that platform.
bahmboo 2mo ago
This is paid API access only. They are here to make money not to position themselves for an IPO. Not a value judgement only an observation.
msabalau 2mo ago
Google has always been committed to multimodal. And, Veo and omni simply were better than Sora And, Youtube is huge both as a place where video contents goes and where can be trained from. Microdramas are starting to become a real category--14 Billion USD, 90% of it made with AI. Chinese video models can be more immediately impressive, but none of them come close to beat the value of Google's Flow. Especially when you are throwing away a lot of generations as part of the creative process. Which is what you have to do to make longer content with any video model. OpenAI needed to be able to focus. Google can walk and chew gum, and they're not going to run out of money to buy chewing gum.
- pwython 2mo ago
  Sora 2 was way better than Veo in terms of quality. It just didn't have much of a use case for businesses outside of one-shot zany UGC-looking clips. https://youtu.be/QaiecWzeHFM?si=UV6eF-m514nCOFe0&t=156 https://youtu.be/QaiecWzeHFM?si=UV6eF-m514nCOFe0&t=156
- TomGarden 2mo ago
  Any source on the 90% number? Last I saw (recently) one of the big players just announced they were planning to do 50% AI going forward
- enragedcacti 2mo ago
  > Microdramas are starting to become a real category--14 Billion USD Almost all concrete english-language info I can find about microdramas is astroturfed to hell by consultants and "independent" industry publications. Wikipedia's citations for 2025 revenue are 'Reel Reel' and 'Duanju News'. Neither cite their source, though they are likely just regurgitating predictions from Omdia, a media consultancy. > Real Reel™ works with companies across entertainment, technology and the creator economy to build relevant industry conversations around mobile-first storytelling. Duanju News is published by 'Studio Phocéen', who run their own microdrama production house. The Omdia revenue estimates, which is where the projected $14 billion comes from, are completely unsubstantiated as far as I can tell. They even go so far as to make "according to new research" a link that when followed sends you to their generic "/advance-your-business/media-and-entertainment" sales pitch. https://omdia.tech.informa.com/pr/2025/oct/microdramas-to-generate-11-billion-dollars-in-global-revenues-in-2025-says-omdia https://omdia.tech.informa.com/pr/2025/oct/microdramas-to-ge... I don't have any special insights here, it all just smells a bit like McKinsey's "The metaverse will be worth $5 trillion by 2030, you better not miss out!!! Hire our 22 year old slide deck experts today"
mattlondon 2mo ago
YouTube. And video ads. Previously when making video ads you'd need to actually create the video. Actors, cameramen, editors - you name it. Now a new video ads is just a prompt away, directly inside the ad-spend web UI too no doubt. People say Google have lost and that they're having their lunch eaten by anthropic, but I am not so sure...
- WarmWash 2mo ago
  Google owns 15% of Anthropic, Claude trains and runs on TPUs, and Google cloud is backlogged with demand from both OAI and Anthropic. Google is selling shovels, leasing mines, buy stakes in "competitors" and doing it's own exploration/mining. When you look at the full picture, it kinda doesn't even look like Gemini matters that much to them overall.
  - Melatonic 2mo ago
    I don't think it does. They could probably throw a shitload of compute at Gemini and have something more competitive. Instead they seem focused on the actual innovative research which I think will pay off long term. Gemma 4 I am way more impressed by than whatever the top ranking model is
- simonw 2mo ago
  That's a very convincing answer. I hadn't considered how many advertisers need video ads now and don't have the skill or resources to create them.
- brazukadev 2mo ago
  > People say Google have lost and that they're having their lunch eaten by anthropic That's old news. People are saying the chinese models/labs are eating anthropic lunch.
chermi 2mo ago
They're main edge has been multimodal. I think they're still the best overall on multimodal? If I were them I would try to be the best at at least something. I never personally got the least bit excited about Sora or nanobanana or whatever video/audio generation thing. But I guess I'm just not their customer. I do love the read-side of it though.
kranke155 2mo ago
Sora was a social network type thing. Google sells their models on a PAYG basis - and makes money off them. Nano Banana alone has changed advertising 2D mockups and Photoshop like tasks forever. Notice how GPT image 2 is now available also on a PAYG basis. I work in advertising and some days I spent a lot of money using these models. The amount and rapidity of prototyping using them has changed everything about advertising pre production.
deleted 2mo ago
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testaccount121 2mo ago
its probably not even a choice given what bytedance is doing with their video models imo
deleted 2mo ago
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by simonw 2mo ago

Interesting that OpenAI abandoned Sora entirely but Google are continuing to invest heavily in their own video generation. Maybe because they see video generation as key to developing "world models"?

kfarr 2mo ago

Also Google already has a huge built in training corpus with YouTube, gphotos, and geospatial data

OtherShrezzing 2mo ago

10% of their revenue comes from YouTube, so they need to make sure that they own any technology that might disrupt that platform.

bahmboo 2mo ago

This is paid API access only. They are here to make money not to position themselves for an IPO. Not a value judgement only an observation.

msabalau 2mo ago

Google has always been committed to multimodal. And, Veo and omni simply were better than Sora And, Youtube is huge both as a place where video contents goes and where can be trained from. Microdramas are starting to become a real category--14 Billion USD, 90% of it made with AI. Chinese video models can be more immediately impressive, but none of them come close to beat the value of Google's Flow. Especially when you are throwing away a lot of generations as part of the creative process. Which is what you have to do to make longer content with any video model. OpenAI needed to be able to focus. Google can walk and chew gum, and they're not going to run out of money to buy chewing gum.

pwython 2mo ago
Sora 2 was way better than Veo in terms of quality. It just didn't have much of a use case for businesses outside of one-shot zany UGC-looking clips. https://youtu.be/QaiecWzeHFM?si=UV6eF-m514nCOFe0&t=156 https://youtu.be/QaiecWzeHFM?si=UV6eF-m514nCOFe0&t=156
TomGarden 2mo ago
Any source on the 90% number? Last I saw (recently) one of the big players just announced they were planning to do 50% AI going forward
enragedcacti 2mo ago
> Microdramas are starting to become a real category--14 Billion USD Almost all concrete english-language info I can find about microdramas is astroturfed to hell by consultants and "independent" industry publications. Wikipedia's citations for 2025 revenue are 'Reel Reel' and 'Duanju News'. Neither cite their source, though they are likely just regurgitating predictions from Omdia, a media consultancy. > Real Reel™ works with companies across entertainment, technology and the creator economy to build relevant industry conversations around mobile-first storytelling. Duanju News is published by 'Studio Phocéen', who run their own microdrama production house. The Omdia revenue estimates, which is where the projected $14 billion comes from, are completely unsubstantiated as far as I can tell. They even go so far as to make "according to new research" a link that when followed sends you to their generic "/advance-your-business/media-and-entertainment" sales pitch. https://omdia.tech.informa.com/pr/2025/oct/microdramas-to-generate-11-billion-dollars-in-global-revenues-in-2025-says-omdia https://omdia.tech.informa.com/pr/2025/oct/microdramas-to-ge... I don't have any special insights here, it all just smells a bit like McKinsey's "The metaverse will be worth $5 trillion by 2030, you better not miss out!!! Hire our 22 year old slide deck experts today"

mattlondon 2mo ago

YouTube. And video ads. Previously when making video ads you'd need to actually create the video. Actors, cameramen, editors - you name it. Now a new video ads is just a prompt away, directly inside the ad-spend web UI too no doubt. People say Google have lost and that they're having their lunch eaten by anthropic, but I am not so sure...

WarmWash 2mo ago
Google owns 15% of Anthropic, Claude trains and runs on TPUs, and Google cloud is backlogged with demand from both OAI and Anthropic. Google is selling shovels, leasing mines, buy stakes in "competitors" and doing it's own exploration/mining. When you look at the full picture, it kinda doesn't even look like Gemini matters that much to them overall.
- Melatonic 2mo ago
  I don't think it does. They could probably throw a shitload of compute at Gemini and have something more competitive. Instead they seem focused on the actual innovative research which I think will pay off long term. Gemma 4 I am way more impressed by than whatever the top ranking model is
simonw 2mo ago
That's a very convincing answer. I hadn't considered how many advertisers need video ads now and don't have the skill or resources to create them.
brazukadev 2mo ago
> People say Google have lost and that they're having their lunch eaten by anthropic That's old news. People are saying the chinese models/labs are eating anthropic lunch.

chermi 2mo ago

They're main edge has been multimodal. I think they're still the best overall on multimodal? If I were them I would try to be the best at at least something. I never personally got the least bit excited about Sora or nanobanana or whatever video/audio generation thing. But I guess I'm just not their customer. I do love the read-side of it though.

kranke155 2mo ago

Sora was a social network type thing. Google sells their models on a PAYG basis - and makes money off them. Nano Banana alone has changed advertising 2D mockups and Photoshop like tasks forever. Notice how GPT image 2 is now available also on a PAYG basis. I work in advertising and some days I spent a lot of money using these models. The amount and rapidity of prototyping using them has changed everything about advertising pre production.

deleted 2mo ago

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deleted 2mo ago

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testaccount121 2mo ago

its probably not even a choice given what bytedance is doing with their video models imo

deleted 2mo ago

[deleted]