Google used I/O 2026 to make its most aggressive push yet into AI-powered creative tooling. The company announced four distinct products aimed at image creation, video production, UI design, and music , all built around the idea that creative work should feel like a conversation, not a command line. The common thread: Gemini Omni Flash, a new multimodal model that Google describes as capable of creating anything from any input.
A new image editor lands in Workspace
Google is introducing Google Pics, a new image creation and editing tool built on its latest Nano Banana model, designed to help users create everything from party flyers to infographics. Whether you're starting from a blank canvas or editing an existing photo, Pics includes object segmentation (so you can select and edit specific elements with precision), text editing and translation, and integrations with Workspace.
Pics is aimed at people who need visuals quickly , teachers, small businesses, marketers, and teams inside Workspace. It can generate visuals from prompts and, more importantly, make parts of the design editable: click an element, comment on it, change the time on an invitation, and adjust the output without rerolling the whole thing. That last part matters more than it sounds. The first AI-generated image is rarely the final asset. The same is true for UI. The magic is not generation; the magic is controlled iteration.
Google wants to compete with well-known design tools like Canva and AI-native rivals like Claude Design from Anthropic by making it simple for users to create images seamlessly. Google Pics is currently rolling out to a limited group of testers and will expand globally to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, and in preview for Google Workspace business customers, this summer.
Flow becomes an agentic creative studio
Google originally introduced Google Flow during last year's I/O event as a filmmaking-focused platform. Since then, the company has expanded it into an AI creative studio with video and image generation and editing capabilities available in more than 140 countries. The I/O 2026 update is the biggest yet, and it has three distinct parts.
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