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Genie, Genie 2 and Genie 3 are world models developed by Google DeepMind that can generate game-like, interactive virtual worlds based on text, images, or sketches. Genie 3 is accessible via Project Genie to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the United States via Google Labs.

The first version of Genie was introduced in March 2024, and was capable of generating two-dimensional interactive environments. Its successor, Genie 2, released in December of that year, expanded these capabilities to generate three-dimensional environments. Genie 3 was introduced in August 2025, with higher-resolution world generations and increased memory capability. In February 2026, Waymo adopted Genie 3 and created a specialized world model, the Waymo World Model, for autonomous driving simulation.

Genie has been used for training AI agents in three-dimensional environments and video game design. It can generate three-dimensional environments in 720p, at 24 frames per second.

History

The first version of Genie was introduced in March 2024.[2] Its successor, Genie 2, was introduced in December, introducing the capability of generating three-dimensional environments.[3]

In August 2025, Genie 3 was introduced, introducing higher-resolution simulations and increased memory from Genie 2, which lost its memory after only ten seconds.[4][5]

On January 29, 2026, Genie 3 was released to the public in the form of Project Genie. Project Genie is only available to AI Ultra subscribers ($250/month) in the United States who are over 18 years old.[6][7] After the release of Project Genie, shares of video game producers decreased significantly, with Take-Two Interactive decreasing by 9.3%, Roblox Corporation decreasing by 15%, Unity Software decreasing by 21%, and CD Projekt decreasing by 8%.[8]

In February 2026, Waymo adopted a fine-tuned version of Genie 3, the Waymo World Model, for simulating edge case scenarios to train their robotaxis.[9]

Models

Original

The original Genie model was introduced in March 2024, and was only capable of generating two-dimensional environments. It generates frames of the world from interactive input and previous frames, and was trained off of thousands of hours of video game footage.[2] The original Genie generated worlds at only one frame per second, which made worlds unplayable as video games.[3]

Genie 2

Genie 2 was introduced in December 2024, and had the capability of generating three-dimensional environments as well as two-dimensional ones. According to Google, Genie 2 only generates a consistent and plausible world for up to a minute, but Ars Technica reported that it could only do so for up to 10-20 seconds.[3] Genie 2 could only generate worlds in 360p resolution.[10]

Genie 3

Genie 3 was introduced in August 2025, and is capable of generating and modifying interactive worlds in real-time. Its memory has increased to one minute, from Genie 2’s ten seconds. Genie 3 is limited to 720p at 24 frames per second.[4]

Waymo World Model

The Waymo World Model is a modified version of Genie 3 created by Waymo in February 2026. It is used for simulating edge cases for training Waymo’s self-driving cars. The edge case scenarios are not commonly encountered in real life, and include situations such as sudden tornadoes, elephant encounters, and snow on the Golden Gate Bridge.[9][11] Waymo also created a smaller version of the Waymo World Model that uses less computation.[12]

In December 2025, a self-driving car ran over a cat, and in January 2026, one ran over a child.[13] These led to authorities issuing safety investigations into Waymo, and the Waymo World Model being introduced to prevent those situations from occuring in the future.[14]

The Waymo World Model is designed to be realistic, and outputs lidar at four times the speed of Genie 3.[9][11] It is capable of converting videos recorded with a dashcam or phone into worlds.[14] It has three types of simulation controls, being driving action control, scene layout control, and language control. Driving action control controls how it responds to inputs, scene layout control controls the generated scenario, and language control controls environmental conditions.[15][16]

Project Genie

Main article: Project Genie (website)

Project Genie is a website that allows Google AI Ultra ($250/month) subscribers who live in the United States and are over the age of 18 to access Genie 3. Project Genie was released on January 29, 2026.[6] Project Genie is accessible via Google Labs.[1]

Project Genie has been used for training AI agents in interactive environments and video game design.[17] It has been used for creating ripoffs of Nintendo games, such as Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.[18] It has a 60-second limit on world exploration.[1][6] In generated worlds, the WASD keys are used to move, the arrow keys are used to turn the camera, and the space key is used to ascend.[19]

After the release of Project Genie, shares of video game producers decreased significantly.[8] Project Genie has been criticized for being slow, having a 60-second limit on world exploration,[18] being censored due to a cease and desist from Disney,[19] and contributing to technological unemployment.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Vigliarolo, Brandon (January 29, 2026). “Google’s Project Genie could put even more game developers out of work”. The Register. Archived from the original on February 18, 2026. Retrieved April 13, 2026.
  2. ^ a b Orland, Kyle (March 5, 2024). “Google’s Genie game maker is what happens when AI watches 30K hrs of video games”. Ars Technica. Archived from the original on December 8, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Orland, Kyle (December 6, 2024). “Google’s Genie 2 “world model” reveal leaves more questions than answers”. Ars Technica. Archived from the original on December 13, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Whitwam, Ryan (August 5, 2025). “DeepMind reveals Genie 3 “world model” that creates real-time interactive simulations”. Ars Technica. Archived from the original on March 24, 2026. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  5. ^ Bellan, Rebecca (August 5, 2025). “DeepMind thinks its new Genie 3 world model presents a stepping stone toward AGI”. TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 5, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Whitwam, Ryan (January 29, 2026). “Google Project Genie lets you create interactive worlds from a photo or prompt”. Ars Technica.
  7. ^ Bonifacic, Igor (January 31, 2026). “Google’s Project Genie lets you create your own 3D interactive worlds”. Engadget. Retrieved April 12, 2026.
  8. ^ a b Pernell, Avalon (January 30, 2026). “Unity, Video Game Stocks Fall as Google’s AI Tool Sparks Fears”. Bloomberg News. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  9. ^ a b c Martindale, Jon (February 6, 2026). “Waymo Is Using Google’s Genie 3 AI to Practice Handling Tornadoes, Elephants”. PCMag. Retrieved April 6, 2026.
  10. ^ Kan, Michael (August 6, 2025). “Google’s Genie 3 Hints at a Future Where AI Builds the Video Games We Play”. PCMag. Retrieved April 12, 2026.
  11. ^ a b Whitwam, Ryan (February 7, 2026). “Waymo leverages Genie 3 to create a world model for self-driving cars”. Ars Technica. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  12. ^ Bastian, Matthias (February 6, 2026). “Waymo taps Google Deepmind’s Genie 3 to simulate driving scenarios its cars have never seen”. The Decoder. Archived from the original on February 7, 2026. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  13. ^ Dellinger, Aj (February 6, 2026). “Waymo Catches World Model Fever, and the Only Prescription Is More World Models”. Gizmodo. Archived from the original on February 14, 2026. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  14. ^ a b Burnett, Steward (February 9, 2026). “Waymo unveils DeepMind-powered world simulation model”. Automotive World. Archived from the original on February 10, 2026. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  15. ^ Sprigg, Sam (February 12, 2026). “Waymo Launches Generative 3D World Model to Train Self-Driving Cars”. Auganix. Archived from the original on April 15, 2026. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  16. ^ Hawkins, Andrew (February 6, 2026). “What happens when Waymo runs into a tornado? Or an elephant?”. The Verge. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  17. ^ Martindale, Jon (January 30, 2026). “Google’s Project Genie Tool Lets You Build Virtual Worlds for Training or Just Fun”. Archived from the original on April 11, 2026. Retrieved April 6, 2026.
  18. ^ a b Peters, Jay (January 29, 2026). “Google’s AI helped me make bad Nintendo knockoffs”. The Verge. Retrieved April 6, 2026.
  19. ^ a b Bellan, Rebecca (January 29, 2026). “I built marshmallow castles in Google’s new AI-world generator”. TechCrunch. Retrieved April 13, 2026.