Google’s answer to Canva is an AI tool where you prompt instead of design

TechCrunch AI Products

Summary

Google has launched Google Pics, an AI-powered design tool that enables image creation through prompts, integrated into Google Workspace for business and premium subscribers.

With Google Pics, Google is pushing deeper into the creative software market dominated by Canva and Adobe, but with a distinctly AI-first approach.
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# Google's answer to Canva is an AI tool where you prompt instead of design | TechCrunch Source: [https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/01/googles-answer-to-canva-is-an-ai-tool-where-you-prompt-instead-of-design/](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/01/googles-answer-to-canva-is-an-ai-tool-where-you-prompt-instead-of-design/) Google is entering the creative design market with a new image creation and editing tool called Google Pics, which will become a part of its Google Workspace suite for business customers and premium Google AI subscribers\. The company says the product, which is powered by Google’s Nano Banana image generation model, will roll out over the coming weeks to most Workspace customers and those who pay for Google AI Pro or Ultra\. Similar to popular design tools like Adobe Express and Canva, Google’s new product is meant to be used for the sort of everyday design tasks you might come across at work and sometimes in your personal life\. For instance, you could use Google Pics to create a poster, social media posts, and other visuals and illustrations\. But unlike Canva, where artists, illustrators, and photographers can publish templates, graphics, photos, and other art to a marketplace where they earn royalties, Google Pics is about creating things based on AI, which was trained on artists’ work\. And unlike Adobe Express, a tool creators often use to make that work in the first place, Google Pics is a tool where you prompt to create, not where you design something new from scratch\. The app also includes other editing tools, like those to isolate and transform objects, modify or translate text inside images, and others\. Plus, it supports collaborative editing and the ability to create several different generations of the image you’ve requested, so you can pick the best one\. The software will be built into Google Workspace, initially starting with Docs and Slides, which rolls out today\. It will later come to Google Drive, the company says\. *When you purchase through links in our articles,[we may earn a small commission](https://techcrunch.com/techcrunch-affiliate-monetization-standards/)\. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence\.* Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011\. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb\. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I\.T\. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software\. You can contact or verify outreach from Sarah by emailing[sarahp@techcrunch\.com](mailto:[email protected])or via encrypted message at sarahperez\.01 on Signal\. [View Bio](https://techcrunch.com/author/sarah-perez/)

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