Google just opened the door to AI-powered music creation for everyone. The company's Gemini app now includes Lyria 3, its latest music generation model that turns text prompts and images into custom 30-second tracks. The move brings Google into direct competition with startups like Suno and Udio, while expanding Gemini's multimodal capabilities beyond text and images into audio composition. According to Joël Yawili, Senior Product Manager for the Gemini app, this represents "a new way to express yourself" through AI-generated soundscapes.
Google is betting that the future of AI assistants includes a recording studio. The company announced today that Lyria 3, its music generation model, is now live in the Gemini app, letting users create custom tracks by typing descriptions or uploading images.
The integration makes Google the first major tech platform to bundle music generation into a general-purpose AI assistant. While OpenAI and Anthropic focus on text and reasoning, Google's pushing Gemini toward creative production. Users can now ask Gemini to generate a "dreamy synth track for a sunset timelapse" or upload a photo of a cityscape and get matching ambient music, all without leaving the app.
According to the official announcement, Lyria 3 produces "high-quality 30-second tracks" from both text and image inputs. That 30-second limit is strategic—long enough for social media clips and content creation, short enough to sidestep the thorny copyright issues plaguing longer AI-generated compositions. It's also the same length that startups like Suno initially offered before expanding to full songs.
Google's been testing music AI quietly for over a year. The company first previewed Lyria technology in late 2023 through MusicLM, an experimental tool available only to select users. But MusicLM stayed locked in Google's AI Test Kitchen, never graduating to mainstream products. Lyria 3's integration into Gemini signals a shift from cautious experimentation to confident deployment.
The timing puts pressure on independent music AI startups. Suno and Udio have raised millions building standalone apps for AI music generation, betting users would pay subscriptions for the capability. Now is giving it away as part of Gemini's broader package. It's the classic platform play—bundle enough features into one app and the specialists struggle to compete.
