Google announced Tuesday at its annual Google I/O event that it is releasing Pics, a new AI-powered design and image generation app for Google Workspace. The tech giant says it designed the app to be accessible to everyone from teachers to small business owners.
Pics allows users to create everything from social media graphics and invitations to marketing materials and mockups using simple text prompts, without the need for editing skills or advanced tools. By giving users an easy way to generate visuals, Google is trying to compete with popular design apps like Canva and products from AI-native competitors like Anthropic’s Claude Design. Google’s entry into this space shows that AI-powered design is quickly becoming a core competitive area, and comes with significant risks for any business that relies on visual content.
Google says the new app is being rolled out to a group of testers at I/O and will be available to Google AI Ultra subscribers this summer.
The company acknowledges that while today’s AI models can produce high-quality images, it is still difficult to change only part of the image. If you get a near-perfect image but want to change some details, you’ll have to create a completely new prompt and hope the AI doesn’t change it too much. So Pics not only generates images, but also allows you to easily edit them.
The user enters the prompt and Pics generates what is needed. Gemini powers editing layers that allow you to fully adjust every element of the generated designs and images. You can create a new prompt to make changes, or you can simply click on the part you want to change and leave a comment, just like leaving feedback in a Google Doc.
You can also edit directly without leaving comments or writing prompts. For example, if you create a birthday party invitation and want to change the time listed on the card, you can change it manually.
Pics is powered by Nano Banana 2, which Google says supports accurate text rendering, real-world knowledge, and detailed visual output, making it a perfect fit for the app. Pics is also built natively into Google Workspace, enabling visual collaboration across apps.
Once you’re happy with your design, you can download, copy, print, or share it with others. Google says you can also hand it off to someone else for final edits before publishing.
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