MAJORFailure Reference

Google Veo Prompt Adherence Failure — Pre-Generation Risk Reference

Technical Classification

Compositional Prompt Adherence Failure

Veo 2 and Veo 3 use a fixed-length text encoder that silently truncates compositionally complex prompts. The encoder drops the most-distant clauses from the latent before generation, producing output that looks fine on inspection but ignores the exact elements the user asked for. The failure is reliable on prompts that exceed ~30 words or include 3+ distinct visual entities. There is no signal at submission time that compression happened.

How to identify this failure

✕Last clause of prompt has no visible effect
✕Named objects mentioned in prompt are missing entirely
✕Setting reverted to a generic version of the request
✕Multi-subject prompts losing one or more subjects
✕Style modifiers ("noir", "anamorphic") ignored

Real generation examples

Prompt used

"Cyberpunk Tokyo alley at midnight, neon signs, lone figure in a red coat, holographic billboard"

Failure observed @ 0:00

Figure rendered but red coat became grey; holographic billboard absent entirely

Prompt used

"1920s ballroom, three couples dancing, jazz band visible in background"

Failure observed @ 0:00

Ballroom + one couple rendered; jazz band missing, other two couples absent

Documentation strength

If you need to escalate

HIGH — Google support refunds compositional drops when the missing element is explicit in the prompt; cite the prompt text and Generation ID.

AVA is a pre-purchase prevention tool, not a post-purchase recovery tool. Platforms generally do not guarantee credit refunds for output-quality failures; goodwill credits are at each platform's discretion. The strength rating reflects how well-formed your support ticket can be, not a promised outcome.

Prevention + documentation steps

01
Score your prompt before you generate
Run your prompt through AVA's pre-flight scoring against the Compositional Prompt Adherence Failure pattern. Green light = generate. Yellow/red = rewrite using the suggested fix before you commit credits.
02
Capture Generation ID + timestamp if it failed anyway
Find the Generation ID in the URL or share link. Note the exact time when the Compositional Prompt Adherence Failure first appears (e.g. "failure first visible at 1.2s"). Timestamped evidence is significantly stronger than a general complaint.
03
Use the correct technical term in your support ticket
Describe this failure as "Compositional Prompt Adherence Failure". This term maps to a recognised internal workflow in the support system and routes the ticket to the right team.
04
Submit via the correct support channel
Runway has no direct email intake. Pro+ plan: open the in-app AI Assistant (help widget bottom-right of app.runwayml.com), describe the failure with the technical term, attach evidence. Free/Standard plan: human support isn't available — your channel is Discord #community-help with @On Call - Moderators.

Frequently asked questions

Does Google Veo refund credits for prompt adherence failures?

Yes — when the dropped element is explicit in the prompt and absent in the output. Submit the prompt text, generation ID, and a screenshot showing the missing element through the Google AI Studio billing portal.

Why does Veo drop clauses from my prompt?

The text encoder compresses the prompt to a fixed latent dimension. Content beyond that capacity is silently truncated — typically the highest-distance or rarest clause first.

How do I improve Veo prompt adherence?

Keep prompts under 30 words. Put the most important visual element FIRST. Limit to 3 distinct subjects per prompt. Avoid mixing abstract and concrete clauses. AVA pre-flights compositional risk.

Score your prompt

Score your prompt against this failure mode in 30 seconds

Paste your prompt and the platform you intend to use. AVA returns a red/yellow/green score against this specific failure mode plus a concrete rewrite if the risk is high.

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