Google launched its AI storytelling app Dreambeans in India after a June release. The app uses data from Gmail, Photos, and other services to create personalized stories. Gozde Oznur said, "India stood out for its high overlap of users across Gemini, Gmail, and Google Photos." It now features animated images.
Launched in June, Dreambeans leverages information from connected Google services like Calendar, Gemini, Gmail, Photos, Search, and YouTube to create personalized illustrated stories about users' interests and day-to-day lives.
The app doesn't require any prompt from the user. Initially featuring static AI-generated illustrations, Google recently added a feature that uses its Veo video-generation model to animate images in select stories.
Google chose India as the first international market for Dreambeans due to strong demand from Indian users and the popularity of its services in the country.
Gozde Oznur, a product manager at Google, said, "India stood out for its high overlap of users across Gemini, Gmail, and Google Photos."
Downloads of the app in the US have dropped significantly since launch, declining 84% month-on-month to about 5,500 in October.
Unlike other general-purpose AI apps, Dreambeans focuses on creating personalized stories instead of answering a wide range of user queries.
Despite supporting many widely spoken Indian languages, users can only select one language at a time for their generated stories.
This limitation could restrict its appeal in India, where people often switch between languages like Hindi and English.
Dreambeans's reliance on information from users' Google accounts raises privacy concerns.
The app uses Google's Personal Intelligence technology to access connected services and customize its AI-generated stories.
However, users can choose which Google services to connect with Dreambeans and disconnect them at any time. They can also delete their data from within the app, ensuring a level of control over their personal information.