Google’s Genie 4 world model adds audio, more realistic worlds, and real-time steering

Google DeepMind released Genie 4, a world model that generates interactive, photorealistic simulations with synchronized real-time audio, as a research preview on Tuesday. Users can alter a running simulation through text prompts, including changing weather or camera angles and adding people or objects. Genie 4 can generate music, ambient sound, and interactive dialogue, maintain a consistent scene for up to two minutes—twice Genie 3’s limit—and provides improved physics and more human-like characters. Google has integrated Gemini more closely with Genie 4: Gemini can plan tasks and check frames while Genie generates simulated visuals. In an experiment connected to Gemini Robotics, Gemini 4 Argon divided a task into steps that Genie 4 simulated in real time, indicating a possible use for testing robot scenarios before real-world deployment. Google cites gaming, interactive learning, robotics, and creative prototyping as potential applications. Genie 4 is currently available to trusted testers. Google plans to make it available in coming weeks to Google AI Ultra subscribers through Project Genie, as well as early-access Gemini API and Google AI Studio partners. Google DeepMind says the model still has limitations: visual details and objects can drift during longer simulations, audio accuracy remains unresolved, and in-world text may not be legible.