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Google Launches Veo 3.1 Lite, a More Cost-Effective AI Video Generator Model

Google is doubling down on AI video and trying to make it less expensive and energy-intensive to run.

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Headshot of Blake Stimac
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Blake has over a decade of experience writing for the web, with a focus on mobile phones, where he covered the smartphone boom of the 2010s and the broader tech scene. When he's not in front of a keyboard, you'll most likely find him playing video games, watching horror flicks, or hunting down a good churro.
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Headshot of Katelyn Chedraoui
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Katelyn is a writer with CNET covering artificial intelligence, including chatbots, image and video generators. Her work explores how new AI technology is infiltrating our lives, shaping the content we consume on social media and affecting the people behind the screens. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in media and journalism. You can reach her at kchedraoui@cnet.com.
Expertise artificial intelligence, AI image generators, social media platforms
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Katelyn Chedraoui
2 min read
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Veo 3.1 Lite is the latest AI video generation model from Google, aimed at being more cost effective.

 Tharon Green/CNET

Google is launching a cost-effective version of its Veo 3 AI video generator, Veo 3.1 Lite, the company announced Tuesday, highlighting Google's renewed commitment to all forms of generative AI. 

AI Atlas

Google says that its latest addition will round out the Veo product family to give developers flexibility based on their needs. The company says the new model will cost 50% less than Veo 3.1 Fast while retaining the same speed. And like all the Veo 3 models, Veo 3.1 Lite will support audio within the videos. 

A representative for Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Veo 3.1 Lite offers an assortment of features, including text-to-video and image-to-video, along with 16:9 and 9:16 aspect ratios, and video resolution up to 1080p. Veo 3.1 Lite doesn't support 4K resolutions like other models, something that may disappoint creators making professional-grade videos. The blog post also points out that developers can customize video duration at 4,6, or 8 seconds, and costs will adjust accordingly. 

The rollout of Veo 3.1 Lite began on Tuesday and is accessible to developers through the paid tier of the Gemini API and Google AI Studio, including Google's filmmaking studio, Flow. 

The timing of this release is telling. Last week, OpenAI -- one of Google's biggest competitors in the AI space -- announced it would be shutting down its video generation app, Sora. Sora was a unique offering because it was both a social media app and an AI video creation tool. 

Google's Veo 3.1 Lite highlights that the tech giant is not stepping away from generative media, but instead, is looking for ways to make creating AI images and videos cheaper. OpenAI's official statement said it was sunsetting Sora to reprioritize core goals, but AI video is a compute-intensive process, which makes it expensive for AI companies to run.

In addition to Veo 3.1 Lite, Google is also updating pricing for the Veo 3.1 Fast model. The new pricing will be available "soon," according to the developer documentation.

Veo 3.1 pricing

Veo 3.1 Lite and Fast pricing

Model ResolutionPrice (per second)Old pricing (per second)
Veo 3.1 Lite 720p$0.05N/A
Veo 3.1 Lite 1080p$0.08N/A
Veo 3.1 Fast 720p$0.10$0.15
Veo 3.1 Fast 1080p$0.12$0.15
Veo 3.1 Fast 4k$0.30$0.35

Making it cheaper to run AI is not just a concern for individual developers but also for the entire industry.Â