Google just dropped two experimental AI features that transform how travelers explore cities. The Google Arts & Culture app now offers personalized City Guide recommendations and Comic Postcards that turn your selfies into narrative art. Available across 11 major cities including London, Tokyo, and New York, these tools mark Google's latest push to blend generative AI with cultural discovery. It's part of the company's broader strategy to make AI more useful in everyday consumer experiences beyond search and productivity.
Google is betting that AI can do more than answer questions or write emails. The company's Arts & Culture team just unveiled two experimental features that reimagine travel planning as something closer to personalized cultural curation. It's a notable shift from the utilitarian travel tools that dominate the space.
The flagship feature, City Guide, tackles a problem every traveler knows: generic recommendations that feel like they were written for someone else. According to Product Manager Harsh Vardhan's announcement, the tool uses AI to surface a mix of iconic landmarks and live cultural events tailored to your specific interests and schedule. You can filter by timeframes like "Today" or "This weekend" and choose from 12 distinct categories ranging from Visual Arts to History to Hidden Gems.
What makes this different from existing travel apps is the "Show live events only" toggle. Instead of static museum listings, City Guide spotlights current exhibitions, performances, and fleeting cultural moments happening right now. It's the kind of serendipitous discovery that usually requires local knowledge or hours of research.
The pilot launches in 11 cities: London, Tokyo, New York, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Istanbul, Osaka, Berlin, Madrid, and San Francisco. That's a carefully curated list of cultural capitals where the density of events and venues makes AI curation genuinely useful. Google's clearly testing whether personalization can cut through the noise in cities with overwhelming cultural options.
