Reasoning models are not uncommon in the world of AI. Many companies have them, including OpenAI’s GPT-o3 and Google’s Gemini 2.5. But AI image and video company Luma AI just dropped its first AI reasoning video model, named Ray3, and it’s available now.
A reasoning model is a kind of AI model that uses more computing time to process requests and can go back and check its answers. Typically, reasoning models give you better responses, whether that’s more detail or a lower rate of errors.
For Ray3, that reasoning power means you can create AI video clips with more complex action sequences. Typically, AI video clips are anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds long. (That’s the sweet spot at least — longer clips tend to get wonky fast.) So stuffing your prompt with action sequences leaves a lot of room for error. Ray3’s ability to spend more time working through prompts means it can better handle those more advanced scenes.
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Luma AI CEO Amit Jain said reasoning models can do more than translate text to pixels.
“It’s able to evaluate and say, ‘Oh, this is not good, or I need this to be better in this way,'” he said in an interview with CNET.
As with reasoning models for chatbots, you can see the steps the model takes as it works. A new visual annotation tool shows you what the model is doing — like marking characters to adjust and other areas to keep as is. You can also use this functionality to mark up frames and highlight changes you want made in successive prompts.
Other upgrades help produce better clips, including the ability to generate in 16-bit HDR, a higher resolution that gives clips finer details and clarity. You can also take advantage of a new draft mode, which lets you test ideas quickly and generate shots in a lower resolution format. You can generate clips in 20 seconds in draft mode, Jain explained, and then upscale those to high-fidelity resolution when you’re ready, which takes about 2 to 5 minutes to generate.
Video creation is becoming an increasingly common use of generative AI. Many big tech companies have released AI video models over the past year, from Midjourney to Google’s Veo 3. All these models aim to enhance creation and recent improvements to generate higher quality, include audio (for Veo 3) and generally level up to entice professional creators as well as AI enthusiasts. Professionals have voiced a number of concerns about AI-generated media, though, particularly around the training and deployment of AI models. A number of class action lawsuits by artists have been filed against AI companies. Luma AI’s privacy policy says it can use information you provide to improve its services.
For more, check out how to write an effective AI image prompt and the best AI image generators.