Art, science, travel: 3 new AI-powered experiences this holiday season

Amit Sood

Senior Director, Google Arts & Culture

What if your cat could teach you about general relativity? Or a selfie could turn you into a travel toon? Or you could have a real-time conversation with an artwork? At Google Arts & Culture, our mission is to make the world’s culture accessible to everyone. We believe curiosity is universal, and our artists in residence are constantly exploring how technology can help spark it.

Today, we’re sharing three new experiments that use Google AI to create fun, unexpected, and creative ways to learn.

1. Learn Everything from a scientific lens

Google Arts & Culture Lab Artist in Residence Gaël Hugo explores how photos from our everyday life can help us understand complex topics. Just take a picture of something around you—a plant, a coffee cup, a burger, your pet—and pick a topic you want to learn about. Using Google AI, an explanation of that topic is generated, using your photo as a visual metaphor. You can choose to learn in different styles — beginner, intermediate or advanced and the tone will adjust. Suddenly, a burger isn’t just a burger, it's a springboard for understanding quantum mechanics, your cappuccino becomes an introduction to biochemistry, and your cat helps you learn about thermodynamics.

2. World Toon Video

Ever wanted to star in your own history lesson? This experiment, also created by artist in residence Gaël Hugo, uses generative AI to put you inside the narrative. Take a selfie, choose a drawing style, pick a historical backdrop or go explore the galaxies. World Toon Video, powered by Google AI, then creates a short educational video clip with you as the main character, dropping you into the scene to learn something new in a playful way.

3. Art Chat

What if an artwork could tell you its own story? Art Chat lets you have a real time conversation about famous artworks: - "Why does the sky swirl in The Starry Night?" or "Why does Hopper's Nighthawks feel so lonely in a city that never sleeps?". As you watch an explainer video on topics from Van Gogh to pop art, you can pause at any time and ask a question. Google Gemini provides an answer on the spot, without you ever leaving the video.

Find these adventures and more on Google Arts & Culture app for android and iOS.