Google is giving Photos users more control over its generative photo-to-video AI feature. Google Photos now supports text suggestions for video generation update announcement on Mondayallowing users to describe the specific movement, style or effect they want to see, bringing still images to life.
Text suggestions join the existing “Subtle Motion” and “I’m Lucky” options that are already available in Google Photos’ image-to-video tool. None of them allowed users to enter their own descriptions to support obtain results. Google says Photos will quickly display suggestions “for instant video inspiration,” and text suggestions can be edited to fine-tune the resulting video generations.
The novel text prompt feature is only available to users who are 18 years of age or older. However, this age restriction only applies to Google’s image-to-video tool in Photos – text suggestions have been available for the same features in Gemini for some time, and are available to all users 13 and older. The ability to add descriptive tooltips brings the Photos image-to-video tool more in line with competing AI editors like xAI’s Grok, which has been particularly abused for stripping down photos of real people and children.
Generative AI features in Google Photos are not yet available in all regions, and exact functionality may vary by location. You can test yourself Google support page for more information on current restrictions.
The update also allows Google Photos users to include audio by default in any video they create using the video-to-video feature, making the videos web-ready without additional editing. In another updateGoogle has introduced a novel Google Photos picker for Gmail that makes it easier to share photos and videos from albums, collections, and shared albums via email. This feature allows you to select multiple photos and videos at once and search for specific photos and album names.