Playing with Google Veo: My First Experiment with AI Video Creation

 his week, I dove into Google Veo, the AI-powered video generation model recently released by Google DeepMind—and let's just say, the results were both surprising and inspiring.

For those hearing about it for the first time, Google Veo is a text-to-video tool that allows creators to generate high-quality, cinematic-style videos just by entering prompts. Think of it like ChatGPT, but instead of words, it gives you actual videos. Yes—actual videos.

As someone building Pamoja AI to explore how Africans can shape and use AI tools, I was curious: How would this perform when used with African-inspired prompts?

So I tested it.

👉🏾 The result? A short video titled “Boy’s Majesty”—generated entirely from a written prompt, and brought to life by Google Veo’s powerful modeling engine. You can [watch it here] (link or embed it).

What I Learned

• Cultural expression still needs work
  While the output was cinematic and smooth, I noticed subtle gaps when it came to truly reflecting African cultural context—clothing, skin tone details, local textures, etc. It’s a reminder that representation in training data still matters in AI development.

• The creative potential is massive
  This is a game-changer for storytelling, music videos, education, and even political expression. Imagine African filmmakers generating scenes without the huge budgets. Or NGOs creating powerful visual campaigns for climate, education, or youth mobilization.

• The barrier to entry just dropped
  You no longer need a studio, camera, or even actors. Just an idea—and the right words.

Why This Matters for Africa

Tools like Google Veo are leveling the playing field for creators globally. But to truly benefit, we must start experimenting, building, and pushing African narratives into these systems. The future of film, activism, journalism, and marketing in Africa could be shaped by how early we adopt and localize these technologies.

As I continue testing AI tools, I’ll be sharing more on how we can “Pamoja”—together—shape AI from an African lens.