Vibe Check: Google ‘Magic Compose’ AI Texting Tool Helps You Sound More Chill

Google is using AI to help Android users personalize the tone of their texts with a new tool called Magic Compose, set to roll out this summer in beta.

Powered by generative AI, Magic Compose “can help you add an extra spark of personality to your conversations,” Google says(Opens in a new window). “It’ll magically transform what you write into different styles. Make your messages more concise, professional or even written like Shakespeare himself!”

Tweet(Opens in a new window)

In a demo, Magic Compose changes “Wanna grab dinner?” into three versions depending on “your desired vibe before you hit send”:

• Excited: I’m starving!!😊Wanna grab a bite to eat?

• Chill: You down for some grub?

• Shakespeare: Prithee, shall we dine tonight?

Building off Gmail’s Smart Compose, which offers up suggested words and phrases as you write an email, Magic Compose will do the same for texting. “It’ll offer suggested responses based on the context of your messages,” Google says.

Custom, AI-Generated Wallpaper

Examples of generative AI wallpaper.
(Credit: Google)

Google also announced more personalization features that use generative AI to create even more digital vibes. The rollout of Android 14 this summer will bring the ability for Android users to create their own home- and lock-screen wallpaper.

In a process similar to that of similar tools like DALL-E and Midjourney, you can tell Android you want “cats in a cubist style,” or a “city in the Bay area in a post-impressionist style,” or “mountains in a Pop Art style,” and it will generate that for you (see example above).

“With Generative AI wallpaper, you can answer suggested prompts to describe your ultimate creative vision,” Google says. “Using Google’s text-to-image diffusion model, your phone will generate unique wallpapers for you to choose from. Thanks to Material You, the color palette of your Android system will automatically match the wallpaper you’ve selected.”

Android 14 will also have the ability to add shortcuts to the lock screen, choose from “beautifully crafted clocks,” and apply a new monochrome color scheme to your whole phone.

Wallpaper options coming to Pixel devices next month.
(Credit: Google)

Starting next month, certain Pixel devices will have two new features: emoji wallpaper options and a new “cinematic wallpaper.”

“What really makes a lock screen yours is the wallpaper,” says Dave Burke, VP of Android Engineering at Google. “We thought, wouldn’t it be cool to bring them to your wallpaper?” Android users will also be able to change the color of the emojis.

Cinematic wallpaper transforms photos on the lock and home screen into 3D images, which “come to life when you unlock or tilt your device,” Google says.

‘Magic Editor’ Enhances Photos With Generative AI

(Credit: Google)

Google also teased a new Magic Editor tool for Google Photos, which taps generative AI to let you “make complex edits without pro-level editing skills,” like adding or removing things from pics.

“Take this picture of a boy on his birthday. It’s a good photo but it could be better if he was front and center,” Google says(Opens in a new window). “With the power of generative AI, you can create more of the bench and balloons to fill in those gaps, and they’ll blend seamlessly into your photo.”

Look for it on select Pixel phones later this year.

Manipulating photos with AI naturally brings up concerns about misinformation. Google acknowleged this in a separate blog post(Opens in a new window) that teased an upcoming “About this image” tool in Google Search, which will explain the background of an image, including where it first appeared and where it’s been seen online.