Google Photos has already picked up a couple of AI features. Among these is the ability to turn still images into short videos, courtesy of a tool aptly named “Photo to video.” This feature was recently upgraded with the Veo 3 video generation model, and it now looks like the Photos app is preparing yet another upgrade for this functionality.
In its current form, the Photo to video tool offers two effects for generating videos from stills: “Subtle movements” and “I’m feeling lucky.” However, a future version of the Photos app could bring more customization with the help of a prompt box to describe exactly what you want to see.
The discovery was made by Android Authority while dissecting version 6.48 of the Google Photos app. Unfortunately, barring a visual of the prompt box itself, the site couldn’t confirm what the process or the result would look like. It’s likely that the prompt box isn’t fully functional at the moment, though that could change in future iterations of the Photos app.
An upgrade that could make the Photo to video feature more popular
Credit: Android Authority
As far as feature additions go, this could change how people use Photo to video in the Google Photos app, while also encouraging more to try it out. While “Subtle movement” does exactly what it says, the “I’m feeling lucky” option may require multiple attempts to achieve anything remotely close to what you had in mind. Even then, users will be unable to flex their creative muscles as they would with a dedicated prompt field.
There will probably be limits on the number of prompts users can generate within the Photo to video tool each day. Information on this is understandably scarce at this point, since all the knowledge we have on this addition comes from a leak. This also means there’s no guarantee that Google will ever bring it to the Photos app.
But considering the company’s approach to implementing AI functionality across its apps, we wouldn’t be surprised if this feature was unveiled in due course. It’s worth noting that both Photo to video and Remix, the two generative AI tools in the Google Photos app, are only available in the US.
While Photos will offer a “limited number” of generations each day for free, the limit is increased for subscribers of the Google AI Pro or Ultra plans. However, Google’s support page doesn’t specify the limits in place for either of these tiers.
