Google DeepMind has introduced the latest version of its AI world model, which according to the company “unlocks unprecedented realism” and specializes in simulating human beings.

Launched today as a limited research preview among a small group of early testers, the new model, called Genie 4, can generate photorealistic videos which users can modify in real-time via simple natural language prompts. Unlike its predecessor Genie 3—which Google first unveiled in August of last year—the new model can also generate audio. And it can do so automatically, to fit whatever visual scene a user has crafted. “Every world carries the ambient sound of its own setting, from wind in the trees to waves crashing at the beach,” Google wrote in a blog post published Tuesday. Google also highlights the new model’s ability to simulate real-world physics, creating scenes that respond dynamically to shifting camera angles, changes in lighting, and so on.

But the model’s real differentiator compared with earlier versions, according to Google, is its ability to simulate humans. Bodily motion and facial expressions are now more fluid and realistic, whereas Genie 3’s depictions tended to be more mechanical. “The most dramatic leap is how Genie 4 simulates people, creating characters that move naturally, respond organically to their environments, and can be interactively steered in real-time,” Google wrote in its blog post. That leap extends to the simulation of human voices, too: Users can prompt AI-generated characters to converse with one another and respond to events unfolding in a video.

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