Google Photos is elevating the user experience by integrating advanced AI capabilities, enabling users to reimagine their photo memories with new creative tools. The app now offers the ability to transform static images into dynamic videos and remix them into various styles, such as anime, comics, sketches, or 3D animations. These features are housed in a new "Create" tab, which centralizes access to both AI-powered and traditional creative tools.
The introduction of these AI-driven features marks a significant milestone for Google Photos, which currently boasts over 1.5 billion users. This update democratizes AI technology, making it accessible to a wider audience who may not have had extensive experience with AI capabilities. It also provides Google with a vast user base to gather feedback and learn from as people explore the new features.
Users are encouraged to rate AI-generated images and videos with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, providing valuable feedback that will help Google refine and improve the product. This experimental approach allows for continuous enhancement of the overall user experience.
The photo-to-video feature leverages Google's Veo 2 model, allowing users to create short videos from their own photos. This capability has been popularized in recent years, with apps like MyHeritage enabling users to animate old family photos. Now, AI is making this feature more accessible and mainstream.
Once a photo is selected, users can choose between two prompts—"Subtle movements" or "I'm feeling lucky"—to generate a six-second video clip. This feature is currently rolling out to users in the U.S. on both Android and iOS platforms.
In addition to the photo-to-video feature, the new Remix tool, powered by Google's Imagen AI model, enables users to transform any photo from their gallery into a different style within seconds. This feature will be available in the U.S. on Android and iOS devices in the coming weeks.
Both the photo-to-video and Remix features will include an invisible SynthID digital watermark on their outputs, identifying them as AI-generated creations. Google Photos already employs this practice with other AI tools, such as images edited using Reimagine. Generated videos will also feature a visual watermark, similar to those produced by Gemini.
The Create tab, set to launch in the U.S. in August, will be updated over time with new tools, experiments, and refinements to existing options. These AI-powered features for Google Photos were introduced alongside similar tools for YouTube Shorts, which now offers its own photo-to-video option and new AI effects, powered by Veo 2. Shorts will gain access to Veo 3 later this summer, according to Google.