Google Vids is a ‘new AI-powered video creation app’ for Workspace

At Cloud Next 2024, Google announced a new Workspace app that serves as a “video, writing, production, and editing assistant” called Google Vids.

Notably, Google is positioning it alongside Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Vids has a purple document icon with a simple play button inside. (If the name seems familiar, Google Video existed before the YouTube acquisition.)

Like those apps, it lives on the web with an “easy-to-use interface,” while you can also share and collaborate with others.

The focus and target of this product is “telling stories in work environments,” like making team recaps, announcement videos, training reels, and more.

You start by entering a “Help me create a video” prompt where you “Describe your idea with goal, audience, and length.” To add/associate a document, type @ and select something in Google Drive. An example command is “Celebratory end of year update for my company” and attaching a “Features list” file.

Google Vids will generate a storyboard that you can edit by reordering, deleting, and adding. The next step is choosing a video style. 

Google then “pieces together your first draft with suggested scenes from stock videos, images, and background music,” including sound effects. The stock media library has millions of high quality entries. This is brought together in a timeline and video editor UI, with Google touting AI-powered editing.

Vids will aid in the voiceover process with a Recording Studio that lets you capture your own or select a preset voice. 

Google says Vids can “help anyone become a great storyteller at work.” Google said it would assess the feedback from the initial rollout before determining whether to make it more widely available to non-Workspace enterprise customers. 

People tell stories at work every day, whether it’s HR onboarding new employees to the organization’s mission, the training team creating digital learning experiences, or a salesperson pitching a new client on the benefits of their offering. As a storytelling medium, video has become ubiquitous for its immediacy and ability to “cut through the noise,” but it can be daunting to know where to start. 

Google Vids will initially be available in Workspace Labs this June.