Google announced on Thursday that it’s widening access to its experimental research prototype, Genie 3, to its AI Ultra subscribers. The experiment allows users to generate 3D worlds and navigate through them.
Google gave the world a glimpse of Genie 3 back in August and opened it up to users participating in its Trusted Testers program. Now, Genie 3 will be available on the highest tier of Google’s AI subscription plan, limited to users 18 and up.
Google calls Genie 3 a general-purpose world model that lets users generate dynamic worlds, which can be navigated in real time. Seeing the demos in action, it’s like creating a video game on the fly.
Powered by Gemini, Nano Banana Pro and Veo 3, Genie 3 is backed by some of the best of Google’s AI products.
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Google breaks down Genie 3’s functions in three ways.
World sketching: Using text prompts and uploaded images, users can craft a world as they see fit, along with the character that will navigate it. You can choose how the character navigates the world, whether that be walking, flying, or something else, and you can even select the perspective of the character, like first-person or third-person views.
World exploration: With your world built, Genie 3 will generate the path ahead in real time based on your interactions and movements. You can also adjust the camera view and angle as you navigate through the world.
World remixing: Google will allow users to remix worlds by building on top of the prompts that created them. Genie 3 offers a curated gallery of worlds to choose from. You can then download videos from your world explorations.
Since Genie 3 is still an early experimental release, it’s not without a few limitations.
- Worlds generated may not look completely true to life or adhere perfectly to the user prompts.
- Some characters created to navigate the worlds might be less controllable than others, and some may have higher latency in control.
- Limitations in generations to 60 seconds.
Google says that Project Genie will expand to more territories in “due course.” For now, unless you’re a Google AI Ultra subscriber or a part of the Trusted Testers Program, you’ll have to wait until the experiment expands to more people.
