Google recently declared itself a contender in AI design at I/O 2026

Google announced at its annual Google I/O event on Tuesday that it is launching Pics, a new AI-powered design and image-generation app for Google Workspace. The tech giant says it has designed the app to be accessible to everyone from teachers to small business owners.

With Pix, users can generate everything from social media graphics and invitations to marketing materials and mock-ups using simple text prompts, without the need for any editing skills or advanced tools. By providing users an easier way to generate visuals, Google wants to rival popular design apps like Canva, as well as products from AI-native competitors like Anthropic’s Cloud Design. Google’s entry into the space indicates that AI-powered design is rapidly becoming a core competitive area – with real stakes for any business that relies on visual content.

Google says the new app is being launched to a group of testers at I/O and will also be launched to Google AI Ultra customers this summer.

The company acknowledges that although AI models can generate high-quality images today, it is still difficult to modify only a portion of an image. If you get an image that’s almost perfect but you want to change one small detail, you’ll have to write an entirely new prompt and hope the AI ​​doesn’t change too much. That’s why Pics creates images and makes them easily editable.

Users can enter a prompt, and Pics will generate what they need. Gemini powers the editing layer, making every element in the generated design or image fully adjustable. You can write a new prompt to make the change, but you can also simply click on the part you want to change and leave a comment – ​​just like you would when leaving feedback in Google Docs.

You can also edit directly without leaving any comments or writing hints. For example, if you create a birthday party invitation and want to change the time listed on the card, you can do so manually.

Pix Nano is powered by Banana 2, which Google says is perfect for the app as it supports accurate text rendering, real-world intelligence, and detailed visual output. Pics is also built natively into Google Workspace, enabling visual collaboration across all its apps.

Once you’re happy with your design, you can download, copy, print or share it with others. Google says you can also give it to someone else for a final round of editing before it goes out.

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