Artificial intelligence is advancing so fast with the majority of AI companions being able to generate images, be used as chatbots or complete deep research for you. However, a lot of AI companions are now allowing you to generate video, whether its through the AI directly or through an external sister software.
With so many different options for AI video generation, I decided to put some of the most popular options to the test by providing all of them with the same prompt and seeing which video comes out the best. This included testing Sora which powers video generation on Microsoft Copilot and is created by ChatGPT‘s owners OpenAI. I also was sure to try out Grok and Google Gemini.
In terms of prompt, I was sure to provide all of the artificial intelligence software with the exact same prompt. I was sure to ask for humans to be in the video to see how realistic the video would look, I wanted a foreground and a background so that we could have some depth of field in the video.
I asked for the subject of the video to wave so that we can see how well the artificial intelligence video generators can create hands and fingers. AI’s can face something called hallucination where the videos end up with extra subjects.
Here is the exact prompt I provided the artificial intelligence companions with:
Create a video of a man using a laptop, he’s in a office environment and there are people behind him. He then looks up to the camera and waves at it with a smile on his face. The mood is tense at first but then becomes a bit more relaxed when he smiles at the camera.
Here are the results from the prompt above, in order of performance:
3. Sora (ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot)
Sora is OpenAI’s video generation tool. While ChatGPT can’t generate videos itself, it will forward you over to Sora to get the job done. Microsoft Copilot does allow you to generate videos within its interface but this is also powered by Sora. In order to use Sora, whether its directly on the platform or via Microsoft Copilot, you have to have a premium subscription which will set you back $19.99 a month for either of them.
I generated this video straight in Sora and I was quite disappointed with the results. The video is amazing quality and looks very realistic with the subject in focus and the background being out of focus but still clear what is going on.
However, while the setting and vibe is correct, the subject doesn’t actually do what I requested which means it completely missed the mark. Alongside this, it doesn’t look like the subject is actually looking at his laptop screen at the start of the video but looking past it.
Despite how high quality this video is, its hard to award it the crown here considering the prompt wasn’t followed.
2. Grok
Before judging the Grok video, something worth noting is that Grok is the only AI video generation tool which is available to use for free. While you need an account to generate videos, it doesn’t need to be a paid subscription.
The video has followed the prompt very well, with the background and vibe being clearly in an office environment. The subject looks to the camera and waves and has the right amount of fingers but you can see them glitch very briefly. One thing to note is that I think its quite clear that the video is AI generated thanks to a weird smoothing filter which is laid on top of the video.
Despite this video not being the best of the ones I generated, it was the only video which I was able to generate for free. On top of it being the only one I could create for free, it was still better than one of the alternatives – Sora – as it actually followed the prompt.
1. Veo 3 (Google Gemini)
In order to generate a video with Google Gemini, you need to access Veo 3. You need to pay in order to use Veo 3 with a one month free trial available, but setting you back $19.99 for paying customers. Once you’re a paying subscriber, you can then ask Gemini to generate videos for you.
The video which was generated by Veo 3 was very clearly on top here. The video was extremely high quality with the background being out of focus and subject being clearly in frame and focus. The vibe and setting was spot on based on the prompt with him looking very tense and focused when using his laptop but smiling and looking happy when looking at the camera.
When he waves at the camera, the hands and fingers look very realistic with no glitching or hallucinations. This clip could be straight out of a marketing video or clip from an advert on TV thanks to how realistic it was and how well it followed the prompt and direction.
Veo 3 has to take the crown here, with the best, clearest video with absolutely no issues. However, Grok still created a great video and was completely free making it a great option for those who don’t want to pay for an AI tool.
