At its annual I/O event on Tuesday, Google revealed it’s launching Pics, a new AI-powered app for designing and generating images within Google Workspace. The company states that the app is built to be accessible for everyone, ranging from educators to small business owners. Using simple text prompts, users can create everything from social media graphics and invitations to marketing materials and mockups—no editing experience or advanced software required.

By offering an easy way to produce visuals, Google is positioning itself against popular design tools like Canva, as well as AI-native competitors such as Anthropic’s Claude Design. This move signals that AI-driven design is quickly becoming a key battleground, with significant implications for any business that relies on visual content. According to Google, Pics will initially launch to a group of testers at I/O, with a broader rollout to Google AI Ultra subscribers planned for this summer.

The company acknowledges that while current AI models can generate high-quality images, making targeted edits remains challenging. If an image is almost perfect but needs a small tweak, users typically have to craft an entirely new prompt and hope the AI doesn’t change too much. To address this, Pics not only generates images but also makes them easily editable.

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Users can enter a prompt, and Pics will produce the desired output. The editing layer is powered by Gemini, making every element in a generated design or image fully adjustable. You can write a new prompt to make changes, or simply click the part you want to modify and leave a comment—similar to how you’d provide feedback in Google Docs. Direct editing is also possible without leaving a comment or writing a prompt. For instance, if you create a birthday party invitation and need to change the time listed on the card, you can do so manually.

Pics is powered by Nano Banana 2, which Google says is well-suited for the app due to its support for precise text rendering, real-world knowledge, and detailed visual output. The app is also natively integrated into Google Workspace, enabling visual collaboration across its applications. Once satisfied with a design, users can download, copy, print, or share it with others, or pass it along for final edits before it goes live, according to Google.