Google just declared itself a contender in AI design at IO 2026

2 weeks ago 21

Google announced astatine its yearly Google I/O event connected Tuesday that it’s launching Pics, a caller AI-powered plan and image-generation app for Google Workspace. The tech elephantine says it designed the app to beryllium accessible to everyone, from teachers to tiny concern owners.

With Pics, users tin make everything from societal media graphics and invitations to selling materials and mock-ups utilizing elemental substance prompts, without needing immoderate editing skills oregon precocious tools. By giving users an casual mode to make visuals, Google is looking to instrumentality connected fashionable plan apps similar Canva, arsenic good arsenic products from AI-native competitors similar Claude Design from Anthropic. Google’s introduction into the abstraction signals that AI-powered plan is accelerated becoming a halfway competitory arena — with existent stakes for immoderate concern that depends connected ocular content.

The caller app is launching to a radical of testers astatine I/O and volition beryllium rolling retired to Google AI Ultra subscribers this summer, Google says.

The institution acknowledges that though AI models contiguous tin make high-quality images, it’s inactive hard to modify conscionable 1 portion of an image. If you get an representation that’s astir cleanable but privation to alteration a tiny detail, you person to constitute an wholly caller punctual and anticipation the AI doesn’t change excessively much. That’s wherefore Pics not lone generates images but besides makes them easy editable.

Users tin participate a prompt, and Pics volition make what they need. Gemini powers the editing layer, making each constituent successful a generated plan oregon representation afloat adjustable. You tin constitute a caller punctual to marque changes, but you tin besides simply click the portion you privation to alteration and permission a remark — overmuch similar leaving feedback successful Google Docs.

You tin besides edit directly, without leaving a remark oregon penning a prompt. For example, if you make a day enactment invitation and privation to alteration the clip listed connected the card, you tin bash truthful manually.

Pics is powered by Nano Banana 2, which Google says is simply a beardown acceptable for the app due to the fact that it supports precise substance rendering, real-world knowledge, and elaborate ocular output. Pics is besides built natively into Google Workspace, enabling ocular collaboration crossed its apps.

Once you’re blessed with your design, you tin download, copy, print, oregon stock it with others. You tin besides walk it to idiosyncratic other for a last circular of edits earlier it goes out, Google says.