Google’s Dreambeans, its weirdest-named AI tool to date, will turn your life into a cartoon

Google Labs, the tech giant’s team devoted to experimental product design, has launched a new AI-fueled app for iOS and Android that will quite literally animate your life.

Behold, Dreambeans. Why is it called that? We’ll get to that later.

First, what is it?

Gozde Oznur, the product lead behind the new app, told TechCrunch that the idea is to use data culled from across your various Google services to generate a curated list of AI-illustrated “stories.” These stories come in a variety of different shapes and forms, although — in general — they seem to be lifestyle suggestions. Oznur describes as “places to visit, topics to explore, things to try, upcoming trips, events that you should be aware of.”

Dreambeans generates these ideas based on a user’s Google data. “With your permission, Dreambeans uses Personal Intelligence to connect information from Google apps like Gmail, Calendar, Photos, YouTube and Search History, to curate a finite collection of daily stories designed to spark new ideas,” the company says.

So for instance, some stories may be geographical recommendations — like suggesting a new coffee shop near where the user lives that they might be interested in. Or, as is the case in this marketing video, if you’re getting a new dog and that event has been marked in your Google Calendar, Dreambeans might deliver some insights about what it’s like to live with a new puppy. Still others stories may simply be news articles curated from the web, based on a user’s past interests.

Oznur said that the app has also been built as a doomscrolling antidote, in that it only provides users with a limited number of stories per day — typically 10 to 14 of them. The idea is to get a few inspirational ideas and then go out and live your life, she said. A lot of companies are currently trying to court the user that is sick of phone addiction. I recently reviewed a startup, Bond, which also uses AI to auto-generate lifestyle suggestions for the user.

What about privacy protections?

According to Oznur, they are pretty solid. The only person with access to the app’s stories is the user, she said. Users can also delete their data whenever they want, and can choose which Google services they want to connect to the tool.

Finally, where did the name “Dreambeans” come from?

The idea for the name was generated, in part, by the way the system works while you are asleep, she said.

“The dream part is literal, because while you sleep, the app is working through everything across your connected apps, because, as you can imagine, it’s a lot of data that it is distilling,” Oznur said. “The beans part is about how you kind of start your day with a freshly brewed cup of coffee. It has processed everything overnight and hands you a concentrated drop of inspiration in the morning.”

Dreambeans is currently only available for eligible U.S.-based Google AI Ultra subscribers on Android and iOS. However, there is also a waitlist that is available to users with a personal Google account.

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