Google announced today that it’s launching a redesigned Arts & Culture app for Android, with an iOS launch to follow soon. The redesigned app includes a new AI-generated postcards feature, a new Play tab, a TikTok-like “Inspire” feed and more.
Most notably, the app now includes a “Poem Postcards” feature that lets users send AI-generated postcards to friends. With this new feature, users can select an artwork then choose from a sonnet, haiku, limerick or more to create an art inspired and AI-generated poem using Google’s PaLM 2 Model. You can then share this poem with your friends as a digital postcard. The feature is available now in select countries.
You can access the feature by finding an artwork you like on Google Arts & Culture and clicking on the ‘Poem Postcards’ button to start generating and sharing poems.
The app now also includes a new “Play” tab where users can play around with camera tools like Art Selfie and Art Filter, and games like Blob Opera and the recently launched Viola the Bird. Google’s new Poem Postcards feature is available in the Play tab, too.
Image Credits: Google
In addition, users can swipe through a TikTok-like “Inspire” feed that includes an always-changing and personalized stream of cultural highlights. Google says users can be inspired by artifacts, cultural stories, events and much more across cultural topics. Like on TikTok, you can favorite content if you want to see more like it.
Users can discover cultural connections with the new new “cultural flywheel” that revealing a variety of related cultural content to continue your exploration.
“For example, start your journey with Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and the flywheel will unearth cross-cultural connections presenting other depictions of jewelry across regions and time,” Google wrote in a blog post. “We are always investigating new ways to connect cultural content so this feature will continue to evolve over time.”
Last, the redesigned app makes it easier to explore cultural topics such as art, food, fashion, craft and science. Users can pick between browsing artifacts, cultural stories, partner collections and more, then refine their exploration by place, topic and creator.
Google says the new changes are designed to make the app more accessible and intuitive to explore, while giving users new ways to discover and engage with culture.
Originally published at techcrunch.com