Let’s Talk AI Video Tools
AI is all the buzz at the moment, and there are a lot of very intriguing tools out there to “help” businesses of all shapes and sizes, including the pool & spa industry. But what tools are right… right now? Where will you waste your time and bang your head against the wall; and where can you make something truly valuable for your business? Since there are so many categories like AI writers, chat bots, image generation and video generation, I’m writing a series of blog posts to cover the best and the worst as of Q4 2025. So, to get started, let’s focus on video tools.
Not to overly complicate things, but there are a ton of video tools that are definitely “the next best thing,” and navigating all the tools is tricky. On top of this sea of tools, there are new “tools” that are just slick interfaces on top of the existing, more powerful tools. So, who to believe? Let’s start with the big ones.
Sora (from OpenAI), Veo (from Google), Kling.ai (from a Chinese company called Kuaishou Technology) and Grok (from xAI) are the leading underlying AI video generation tools. There are more, of course, but these are the big players. Each of them uses slightly different technology, and slightly different approaches to creating the videos, and I encourage you to tinker with each. But, in the interest of taking a look at the current state of AI video for the pool and spa industry, I’ve got some examples below along with some inevitable commentary.
AI Video Examples
First question: Watch the video below and tell me when you could tell it was made by AI. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Here was the prompt: Create a video of a hot tub in a backyard with a middle-aged couple getting into the water to enjoy it. It should be at sunset and photorealistic.
Did it work? Well, yeah. But there were certain laws of physics broken in the process. Is it good enough for an ad? Probably not. Let’s look at another example:
Better? Yes. This was the result of a brainstorm with Colorado Custom Spas in (of all places) Colorado. But there are still a few shortcomings. One thing we got lucky with in this case was the text rendering. For whatever reason, AI is still not consistent with putting text on the screen. Sometimes it will just put random letters instead of the words you asked for. And let’s talk about the weird “wave” the guy does in the middle of the video. What was that? And finally, very few of the tools can properly insert consistent images like logos or reference images like a specific hot tub model.
Before we move on, let’s talk about the concept of “prompts”, the primary method of input for AI video generation.
AI Prompts for Pool & Spa Stores
What is a prompt? Very simply, it’s the text you type in to an AI tool to get it to generate a video. The problem is sometimes, you’ll get an incredible video, and other times you’ll be scratching your head wondering what in the world was that? So, what to do?
There are literal college courses at this point on how to write prompts for AI. But most of the content in these courses is obsolete by the end of the class. That’s how fast the industry is moving. Prompts can range from a sentence or two, to hundreds or even thousands of words to describe everything you’re looking for in excruciating detail. Let’s look at a few more examples of a simple prompt and a complex prompt and compare the differences,
PROMPT: Create a video of a pool contractor introducing himself in a backyard. The backyard should not have a pool yet. Include sound. [Made with Grok]
Ok. Kind of weird. The prompt specifically says the yard should have no pool. Oh well. And the audio is hilarious.
Now let’s go in a completely opposite direction. For the next two videos I asked AI to write me a very detailed prompt including time of day, camera movements, clothing, etc. The first video was made with Kling 1.6 (an older version) and the second video was made with Sora 2 (a slightly older version as well). Get ready for the massive prompt:
Cinematic sunset scene in the American Midwest, golden hour. A beautiful traditional two-story Midwestern farmhouse with white siding, wrap-around porch, red barn in the far background, sitting on several acres of rolling green fields and mature oak trees. Warm, soft volumetric sunlight, gold rays filtering through the trees.
A happy couple in their mid-30s (Caucasian man with short brown hair wearing light linen shirt and shorts, attractive woman with long wavy hair in a light summer dress) walk hand in hand from the back porch into the expansive backyard. Slow, graceful tracking shot follows them from behind, then smoothly pans and orbits around them as they stop to admire the view — gentle wind in the grass, fireflies starting to appear.
Camera slowly dollies forward and tilts up revealing a stunning infinity-edge swimming pool with crystal-clear turquoise water reflecting the orange-pink sunset sky. The couple exchange a playful smile, kick off their shoes, run together and leap into the pool holding hands — big splash, water droplets catching the golden light in slow motion.
Underwater shot: they swim toward each other, bubbles trailing, then ascend together. They surface at the pool edge in perfect synchronization, water cascading off their hair and shoulders. Close-up on their radiant, joyful faces as they laugh softly, rest their arms on the coping, and tilt their heads upward in unison.
Final slow panoramic shot: camera pulls back and cranes up revealing the full moon rising dramatically over the horizon, huge and bright silver against the deep indigo twilight sky. The pool water perfectly mirrors the moon and the last traces of sunset. Fireflies dance in the foreground. Warm, romantic, peaceful atmosphere.
Ultra-realistic, photorealistic, cinematic lighting, Arri Alexa 65 color science, 8K detail, subtle film grain, anamorphic lens flares, slow graceful camera movements, 24 fps, masterpiece, best quality
Ok. Um, good? It’s clear that AI doesn’t yet understand that most people can’t walk on water… The imagery is great, but the people, not so much. And at the end, I think the guy has long hair and is wearing the same swimsuit as the girl. Definitely not in the prompt. Let’s try a different engine and see if we can do better.
Welp… Once again, no one is walking on water, it missed the end prompt and a lot of other things. Maybe we should avoid the people. And why is there a vehicle halfway on the porch? Let’s try a hot tub delivery with a crane. This one is made with Grok.
That’s a big hot tub. And I love the opposing covers that are somehow delivered with the hot tub. Sigh.
Overall, the image/video quality is pretty remarkable, and you can get a good sense for the surroundings. But there is absolutely no understanding of how the world works, how people interact with a pool or even clothing/scene consistency. There are some tools that now claim to be able to “save” a character or a background, but they’re still in their (practical) infancy. Yes, there are some people who’ve made amazing videos, but they’ve spent hours (or days) doing so.
I think there is something to be said for some nice backyard imagination photos, and maybe some videos of running water. But I would strongly advise against including too many people or attempting to insert your brand into videos in the near term. Keep in mind that this kind of video generation wasn’t even possible a year ago, so things are moving fast. Feel free to tinker, spend a couple bucks on a few renders and see if you can generate something that would work for your business. I think a lot of the video in the next couple of months will be more of the comedy variety, rather than practical — and frankly, if it brings visitors to your stores, embrace it.
