Google Mixboard is your new AI-powered creative playground

2 hours ago 2

(Image credit: Google)

Google's new Mixboard offers AI-fueled visualization and image remixing
Users can create and edit idea boards using text prompts
Mixboard is available as an experimental beta in the U.S.

Google is testing a new AI experiment for "visual concepting boards" called Mixboard. The new tool embeds AI into classic moodboards to “explore, expand, and refine” ideas, officially. But really, it lets you see possibilities produced by AI based on prompts ranging from “cozy minimalist home office” or “retro space-themed board game,” to Halloween costumes for dogs like those seen above.

The AI canvas then generated visuals, color palettes, sample text, and more. It’s part AI-assisted sketchpad and part collage a la Pinterest or Canva. But Mixboard leans heavily into AI co-creation in a way those tools don't quite yet. Mixboard starts as a nearly blank canvas with a prompt bar. Throw in some descriptive words, and Mixboard will use Google's popular new Nano Banana AI image generator to make nearly anything you might suggest.

Nano Banana, which first drew attention for its 3D figurine creations, is doing much more subtle work inside Mixboard. It lets you tweak visuals with natural language, nudging compositions into different moods. You can import your own images, edit them with AI, or build entirely new boards using a combination of prompts and existing templates. If it's close, but not quite there, you can regenerate the board or ask for “more like this” to spin off new variants.

AI image imagination

Google is pitching Mixboard as the starting place for ideas and brainstorming. It's not for complex presentations and detailed editing, just rough descriptions and playing with AI responses. That doesn't mean it's frictionless. As with all AI tools, the utility is heavily dependent on the quality of prompts. But it does pretty well even with odd requests like birds with googly eyes.

Mixboard occupies a different corner of the imagination than Google’s other generative tools in some ways. Gemini and AI Overviews are designed for direct answers, while NotebookLM is more suited for assisting with structured thinking and education. Mixboard is looser and more intuitive in format.

Google is, for now, keeping Mixboard an experiment within the U.S. The company says it’s still gauging how people use it and where there might still be issues. Still, Mixboard slots neatly into Google's efforts to make its AI useful for the creative process.

It also stands as a rival to other, more consumer-friendly AI image production tools. For instance, Meta has been experimenting with AI-powered editing inside Instagram and Threads, and Pinterest is testing smart inspiration tools that remix boards using AI. But most of those tools treat AI as an assistant at the end of a process. Mixboard integrates AI into the process from the outset.

Eric Hal Schwartz is a freelance writer for TechRadar with more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of the world and technology. For the last five years, he served as head writer for Voicebot.ai and was on the leading edge of reporting on generative AI and large language models. He's since become an expert on the products of generative AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and every other synthetic media tool. His experience runs the gamut of media, including print, digital, broadcast, and live events. Now, he's continuing to tell the stories people want and need to hear about the rapidly evolving AI space and its impact on their lives. Eric is based in New York City.

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