Google Unveils Veo 3.1: Revolutionizing Vertical Video for YouTube Shorts with Pro-Grade Upscaling
January 13, 2026
The update’s availability across multiple platforms and its potential industry impact are noted, with references to external sources.
Updates are framed as experimental AI-generated content with a focus on mobile-friendly and professional-grade outputs.
Early user feedback points to improved narrative control and quality as Google expands its AI content ecosystem.
Google updates Veo to Veo 3.1, enabling vertical video generation from reference images and integrating with YouTube Shorts and YouTube Create, while enhancing Ingredients to Video with stronger vertical outputs.
Pro-grade upscaling now supports outputs up to 1080p and 4K, expanding use in broadcast, cinema, and professional workflows across Flow, Gemini API, and Vertex AI.
The update emphasizes identity consistency for characters and objects across scenes, with granular control over backgrounds and textures.
The provided material focuses on podcast topics rather than a single event or outcome, limiting traditional article framing.
The content includes podcast links and descriptions, highlighting tech-focused programs rather than a singular news item.
Google reports richer dialogue and storytelling with simple prompts, though explicit benchmarks were not provided.
The release signals a competitive push to outpace rivals by offering deeper integration and an out-of-the-box feature set for immediate content production.
Entries feature themes like social networks, fitness apps, AI personas, but no single central narrative emerges from the collection.
The 2025 release improves audio and editing quality, enabling more expressive characters and smoother movement even with compressed prompts.
Summary based on 16 sources
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Sources

Google • Jan 13, 2026
Veo 3.1 Ingredients to Video: More consistency, creativity and control
Google • Jan 13, 2026
Enhanced Veo 3.1 capabilities are now available in the Gemini API.
The Verge • Jan 13, 2026
Google’s Veo now turns portrait images into vertical AI videos
TechCrunch • Jan 13, 2026
Google’s update for Veo 3.1 lets users create vertical videos through reference images