(Credit: Google)
Your TV is no longer just for watching shows, movies, or playing video games. Google TV is expanding its creation features, bringing AI-generated content to the biggest screen in your home, alongside new features for Google Photos and YouTube.
In a future update, YouTube Shorts recommendations will appear on your home screen across Google TV devices. An example in Google’s marketing shows it appearing above the "Trending on Google" section, under the title "Short videos for you."
It shows six videos, including the creator’s name, the video's headline, and the number of likes it has received. It's set to be personalized, but it's not clear if it'll draw from what you've previously watched on YouTube or what you like to view across all of Google TV's services.
Google says it’ll roll out to devices across the US later this year, but it hasn't clarified whether you’ll be able to turn this option off. It may not be for everyone, as YouTube recently added an option to stop seeing Shorts in its mobile app.
A new Google Photos integration, meanwhile, lets you use your own photography as a screensaver, rather than defaulting to stock imagery.
(Credit: Google)You can choose any album to become a slideshow of images on your TV’s screen when you’re not using it. It's rolling out now, and you can set it up in the quick settings: find the screensaver option, select Google Photos, and build an album of photos to use as your screensaver.
Your device will need at least 2GB of RAM to handle this, so it won't work with the Chromecast With Google TV (HD) or an Onn HD.
If you have a Gemini-enabled device, Google is also updating Photos to allow expanded voice search. A new results page lets you browse voice results, including searching more broadly with queries like “show me photos from my birthday party last year.”
Photos viewed on Google TV will also let you make edits with Nano Banana AI tech via an option called Remix. A button appears at the bottom of the photo when you're looking at it, and it lets you make an AI-generated version where you look like an animated character, a watercolor painting, and more.
Other new AI integrations coming to Google TV include the option to use Nano Banana's photo-producing and tweaking tech. A new Create button in the Gemini tab on Google TV lets you describe what you want an AI-generated image to show, or what edits you want to make to an existing subject. Nano Banana then creates it on your TV.
The same works through Veo for video clips. Google says, “Whether you want to create a new clip from scratch or add motion to an existing image, just describe what you’re looking for and let Veo do the rest. It’s a cool way to get creative with family and friends.”
These last two AI-generation features are available only on Gemini-enabled TCL TVs in the US.