The Best 22 Google AI Tools

Google now ships AI across search, Workspace, its developer platform, and a long list of experimental Labs products - and most people only ever touch Gemini. Below are 22 Google AI tools worth knowing, covering conversational AI, research, image and video generation, coding agents, and no-code app building, each with what it does and when to reach for it. This guide is part of the AI Central Library, where we track the tools our 300,000+ readers actually put into their workflows

Google's flagship conversational AI assistant. Brainstorm, write, research, and collaborate with a chatbot built for both work and creativity.

This is the front door to almost everything else on this list - several of the tools below are features living inside Gemini rather than separate products.

Transforms complex learning materials into easy-to-digest resources. Generate mind maps, audio summaries, video overviews, and study guides, all from documents you upload.

The distinction that matters: NotebookLM only works from your sources. That constraint is the feature, because answers stay grounded in what you gave it.

Accessible inside Gemini, Canvas lets you co-create with AI. Design presentations, websites, infographics, documents, and visuals in real time.

Use it when the output is a document rather than a conversation. Editing alongside the model beats regenerating a whole response to fix one paragraph.

Learn anything step-by-step with an AI tutor. The interactive format breaks complex topics into manageable lessons tailored to your pace.

Worth pairing with NotebookLM: one teaches you a subject, the other works through material you already have.

An experimental feature that delivers AI responses in an immersive, magazine-style format - photos, interactive modules, and rich visuals instead of plain text.

Best for anything you would normally want laid out rather than read as a wall of prose, like itineraries, comparisons, or how-to sequences.

Build custom AI assistants without coding, or choose from a library of pre-built niche assistants designed for specific tasks and industries.

A Gem is a saved set of instructions with a name. If you find yourself pasting the same preamble into Gemini repeatedly, that is a Gem waiting to be made.

Generates comprehensive, well-researched reports using online information, gathering, analysing, and synthesising data into polished, in-depth documents.

Give it a scoped question rather than a broad topic. "Compare X and Y on these four criteria" produces a far better report than "research X".

Conducts AI-powered web searches directly in Google, returning summarised answers, synthesised insights, and source-backed results without clicking through multiple links.

The sources are the point. Check them on anything that matters, in the same way you would with any research summary.

Integrated AI across Google Workspace apps - Gmail, Sheets, Slides, Photos, Maps, and more. Draft emails, analyse data, and design slides with AI assistance in the app you are already in.

The lowest-friction option on this list, because there is nothing to adopt. It is already inside the tools your team opens every morning.

Google's top-tier AI image generation model. Creates viral-ready visuals for marketing, ads, social content, training materials, and sales collateral.

Reach for this when the image is the deliverable, not decoration.

Google's text-to-image model, available through Google AI Studio and the Gemini API. Generates photorealistic, high-quality images with strong prompt understanding and precise text rendering.

The text rendering is the differentiator. Most image models still mangle words inside an image, which matters for anything with a headline or label in it

Google's most advanced AI video generation tool. Produces realistic videos with synchronised sound for marketing campaigns, tutorials, and promotional content.

Video prompting is its own skill - you are describing a camera and a scene, not giving a task. Expect a learning curve even if your text prompting is sharp.

An AI filmmaking platform that turns text and media inputs into coherent cinematic scenes, clips, and narratives using generative models and natural language prompts.

Where Veo generates clips, Flow is built for stringing them into something with continuity. Different job, same underlying models.

An AI video creator inside Google Workspace. Generate, customise, and collaborate on professional videos using prompts, templates, uploads, AI scripts, and voiceovers.

This is the business-video option: training material, internal updates, product walkthroughs. Not cinematic, and it does not need to be.

An experimental image generator that lets you remix visuals by uploading and combining images as prompts, using Gemini and Imagen to produce unique creative outputs.

Images as input rather than text. Useful when you can show what you want faster than you can describe it.

An experimental generative music tool that composes original tracks from text prompts. Define genre, mood, and instruments to create unique audio compositions.

Handy for background audio on video projects where licensing a track is more hassle than it is worth.

Google's developer platform for building with Gemini. Prototype prompts, test models, tune parameters, and get API keys - the fastest path from an idea to something running in production.

Also the free way to try newer models before they reach the consumer apps.

An AI coding agent that integrates with GitHub, clones your repo, understands your codebase, and executes tasks like bug fixes, tests, updates, and pull requests, all submitted for developer review.

The review step is the design. It works on your repo but does not merge anything on its own.

An agent-first integrated development environment where autonomous AI agents plan, write, test, debug, and verify software across the editor, terminal, and browser.

A step beyond code completion - the agent runs and checks its own work rather than handing you a suggestion.

A no-code AI app builder. Describe what you want in plain language and Opal creates, edits, and shares AI-powered mini-applications, no coding required.

The gap this fills is internal tools - the small utilities a team needs but nobody has time to build properly.

An experimental UI design tool that converts text or image prompts into complete web and mobile interfaces, with exportable front-end code and Figma integration.

The Figma export is what makes it usable in a real workflow rather than a demo you screenshot.

An experimental marketing tool that analyses your website to build a business DNA profile, then generates on-brand campaign ideas and editable creative assets for social media.

Interesting because it derives brand context automatically rather than asking you to write a brand brief first.

Twenty-two tools is a list, not a plan. A sensible order:

If you are still setting up your AI stack, our setup guide for ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot covers the groundwork, and the 26 principles of prompt engineering will get more out of every tool here.

Many have free tiers, including Gemini, NotebookLM, AI Studio, and most Labs experiments. The advanced generation models and Workspace integrations generally require a paid plan, and availability varies by region.

Gemini, then Gemini in Workspace. Together they cover most everyday work and require no setup beyond a Google account.

Gemini is a general assistant that draws on broad knowledge. NotebookLM works only from documents you upload, which keeps its answers grounded in your own sources.

Gems are no-code custom assistants inside Gemini, built from instructions you write in plain language. Google AI Studio is a developer platform for prototyping with the models directly and getting API access.

Pomelli, Whisk, Stitch, MusicFX, and Visual Layout are Labs experiments. They are worth exploring, but features and availability can change without notice, so avoid building critical processes on them.