Google has added new AI-powered City Guide and Comic Postcards features to its Arts adnd Culture app, aiming to personalise cultural discovery and turn travel moments into creative, educational experiences.
Google has unveiled a new wave of AI-powered features for its Google Arts and Culture app, aimed at making cultural discovery more personal, playful, and less reliant on generic travel recommendations.
The update introduces two experimental tools – City Guide and Comic Postcards – that use generative AI to help users explore cities through their interests, moods, and creative preferences, rather than rigid lists of landmarks.
City Guide is designed to surface cultural experiences that feel relevant in the moment.
Instead of static directories, the feature adapts to when and how users want to explore.
Visitors can filter suggestions by timeframes such as “today” or “this weekend,” and choose from 12 interest categories including visual arts, history, architecture, and lesser-known “hidden gems”.
A dedicated toggle highlights live events only, drawing attention to temporary exhibitions, performances, and other fleeting moments that often define a city’s cultural pulse.
At launch, City Guide is being piloted in 11 major cities, those being London, Tokyo, New York, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Istanbul, Osaka, Berlin, Madrid, and San Francisco.
Google has said the goal is to move beyond one-size-fits-all recommendations and test whether AI can better reflect personal tastes while still encouraging cultural exploration.
Alongside City Guide, Google is rolling out Comic Postcards, a lighter, more creative feature that turns travel memories into personalised comic strips.
Using a selfie, a selected mood, and an art style, the tool casts users as the main character in a short visual story set in the city they’re visiting.
The experience doubles as an educational touchpoint, offering background on the chosen artistic style – from classic Golden Age comics to modern graphic novel aesthetics.
Both features build on Google Arts and Culture’s broader push to use AI as a storytelling and learning tool, rather than purely a productivity engine.
Google unveils latest AI features in Google Arts and Culture app
