KARACHI: Google has expanded access to its advanced video generation model, Veo 3, allowing users in Pakistan and over 150 other countries to create eight-second videos from photos with sound, the company said in a statement released Friday.

The move comes amid a global surge in interest in creative AI tools, with content creators using different platforms to generate video stories and bring still images to life. With Pakistan’s growing pool of digital creators, the rollout is expected to spur local innovation in short-form content.

“This new capability allows users to transform their favorite photos into vivid eight-second video clips with sound through a powerful photo-to-video feature built on Veo 3,” Google said.

To use the feature, users select “Videos” from the tool menu, upload a photo, and describe the scene and audio. The system then generates a video that can be downloaded or shared.

The tool is accessible through Gemini, Google’s AI-powered assistant that combines search, image generation and content creation features into a single interface.

These capabilities are also integrated into Flow, Google’s AI tool for filmmakers, which now supports speech, background audio, and sound effects.

Google also underscored its commitment to responsible AI development.

“All videos generated with Gemini include a visible watermark and an invisible SynthID digital marker to indicate they are AI-created,” it said.

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Friday suspended an order seeking to ban the YouTube channels of more than two dozen critics of the government including former Prime Minister Imran Khan, a defense lawyer said.

Alphabet-owned YouTube this week told 27 content creators that it could block their channels — including those of journalists and Khan and his opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf — if they failed to comply with a judicial magistrate court order seeking to ban them.

A regional communication manager for YouTube did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment.

The judicial magistrate court in Islamabad had said it was seeking the ban after the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency criticized the channels in a June 2 report for “sharing highly intimidating, provocative and derogatory contents against state institutions and officials of the state of Pakistan.”

The decision to suspend the order was taken by an additional sessions judge, said Imaan Mazari, the lawyer for two of the YouTube content creators.

In Pakistan, an additional sessions judge is a judicial officer who presides over a sessions court, handling both civil and criminal cases.

“Our submission is that the order has no legal basis. It was a one-sided decision without giving defense a chance to be heard,” Mazari said.

She also said the magistrate court had no jurisdiction over the matter.

The next hearing in the sessions court is on July 21.

In Pakistan’s judicial system, cases start at civil and judicial magistrate courts and appeals are heard in high courts and the Supreme Court.

Digital rights campaigners say that any ban would further undermine free speech in Pakistan, where the authorities are accused of stifling newspapers and television, and social media is seen as one of the few outlets for dissent.