While OpenAI’s Sora has been discontinued, Google seems to believe there remains demand for a tool that allows users to star in personalized AI videos. On Thursday, the tech giant revealed an enhancement to Google Vids that enables you to generate a unique digital avatar resembling you, created from a selfie and a voice clip that you submit.

Furthermore, Google stated it is introducing its multi-modal AI model Gemini Omni to Vids, permitting you to produce videos by combining a text prompt with reference pictures you provide. Omni then integrates those components to produce the desired AI video. It can also be utilized for tasks like changing the background or adjusting the lighting in a video taken with your phone, or applying effects.

Additionally, Omni now accommodates step-by-step modifications, allowing you to alter your video progressively rather than starting anew.

These updates elevate Google Vids from its original function as an AI-aided workplace presentation tool to an integrated video creation platform. By incorporating Vids into Google Workspace, the company is signaling its application as a business resource for items such as company updates or training videos, though the inclusion of personalized avatars and interactive edits could place it in stronger competition with other AI video startups and platforms like HeyGen, Synthesia, Captions, D-ID, among others.

Google also clarifies that the new AI avatars will be linked to the account holder’s image, associated with their Google account, and invisibly watermarked with SynthID. (Presumably, this means users won’t be able to generate peculiar AI videos of Google CEO Sundar Pichai, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had permitted with Sora while it was accessible!)

The company also specifies that access to personal avatars is restricted to users in select regions aged 18 and above.