Google Labs Tools Guide 2026: NotebookLM, Flow, Whisk, Pomelli, Jules & More

Google Labs (labs.google) is where Google ships its experimental AI tools before they reach Workspace, Search or Cloud. For Indian businesses, creators and educators it is the cheapest way to test what is coming next - video generation, image and design tools, research assistants, coding agents and AI-native learning apps. This guide covers every major Google Labs tool in 2026, what each one actually does, who should use it, and how to build a practical workflow around them.

What Google Labs is

Labs is not a product - it is a launchpad. Teams inside Google publish early tools there to gather usage data. Some graduate into full products (NotebookLM and AI Studio both started this way), some fold into Workspace or Gemini, and some are retired. The practical implication: use Labs tools to learn and prototype, but never make a business-critical process depend on one without a fallback.

Almost everything on Labs runs on the Gemini model family, with Veo for video, Imagen for images and Lyria for music. You sign in with a normal Google account; some experiments require a Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription for full quotas.

Research & knowledge tools

NotebookLM - the one everyone should learn first

Upload PDFs, Google Docs, Slides, websites, YouTube links or audio, and NotebookLM becomes a research assistant grounded strictly in those sources, with citations back to the exact passage. Key features:

• Audio Overview - turns your documents into a two-host podcast you can even interrupt and question.
• Video Overview and slide decks - narrated explainers generated from your sources.
• Mind maps - a clickable structure of the whole notebook.
• Reports - briefing docs, study guides, timelines, FAQs.
• Sharing - publish a notebook to a team or a class.

Best for: tender and contract reading, compliance manuals, board packs, student revision, faculty development. We teach it end to end in NotebookLM in Gujarati and the advanced Part 2 guide.

Illuminate

Converts dense research papers and long articles into short conversational audio - useful for commuting learning and for making technical material approachable for non-specialists.

Learn About

A conversational learning surface: ask a question and it builds an interactive explainer with images, related concepts and follow-up questions. Good for teachers building lesson scaffolds.

Data Commons / Data Gemma

Natural-language querying over large public statistical datasets, including Indian census and economic data - handy for market sizing, CSR reporting and policy research where you need real numbers, not model guesses.

Video & filmmaking tools

Flow

Flow is Google's AI filmmaking tool built on Veo. You write a scene description, generate shots, then keep characters, style and camera language consistent across a sequence using ingredients and references. It supports image-to-video, frame extension, camera controls and native audio.

Best for: ad concepts, product teasers, explainer films, YouTube b-roll, training content. Full walkthrough: Google Flow tutorial in Gujarati and the masterclass decks in the Learning Hub.

Veo and Lyria

Veo is the underlying video model (motion, physics, native sound). Lyria and MusicFX generate background music and loops. Together they cover a full short-form production without a camera or a stock licence.

Project Mariner and agentic browsing

Experiments where an agent operates a browser to complete multi-step tasks - form filling, research collection, comparison shopping. Early, but a preview of how routine back-office work changes.

Image, design & marketing tools

Whisk

Prompt with images instead of words: give a subject image, a scene image and a style image, and Whisk remixes them. The fastest way for a non-designer to get an on-brand visual concept.

ImageFX

Imagen-based text-to-image with expressive chips that let you swap adjectives and styles in one click. Good for thumbnails, posters and social creatives.

Pomelli

Aimed squarely at small and medium businesses: point it at your website, it extracts your brand identity - colours, tone, audience - and then generates campaign ideas, social posts, posters and product visuals that stay on brand. For Indian SMEs without a marketing agency this is the single most commercially useful Labs tool. See our Pomelli tutorial in Gujarati.

Stitch

Describe an app or website and Stitch produces UI designs plus front-end code, exportable to Figma. Useful for founders validating a product idea before hiring designers.

TextFX and Food Mood

Smaller creative experiments - TextFX for copywriters and lyricists, Food Mood for fusion recipes. Both are excellent classroom demos of what "AI as a creative partner" means.

Coding & agent tools

Jules

An asynchronous coding agent that connects to a GitHub repository, plans a task, writes code in a cloud VM, runs tests and opens a pull request while you do something else. Best for backlog cleanup: dependency bumps, test coverage, small bug fixes.

Google AI Studio

The free playground for the Gemini API - prompt design, structured output, function calling, grounding with Search, and API keys for production. Every developer team should start here before writing integration code.

Opal

No-code mini-app builder: chain prompts, models and tools into a small workflow app and share it with a link. Think of it as internal automation for people who cannot code.

Gemini CLI and Antigravity

Terminal-first and IDE-first agentic development surfaces for engineers who want the model to operate on the codebase directly rather than through chat.

Learning & experiment tools

• Career Dreamer - maps your experience to adjacent career paths; useful for campus placement cells.
• Say What You See - a prompt-writing game; the best 15-minute icebreaker in a prompt engineering workshop.
• GenType, Thing Translator, Talking Tours - tiny demos that make abstract AI concepts tangible for students and non-technical staff.
• Search Labs / AI Mode - opt-in experiments in Google Search, including AI Mode for multi-step questions.

Workflows: which tool for which job

What this means for Indian teams

• Cost: a two-person marketing team can now produce agency-grade creatives. Budget shifts from production to strategy and review.
• Language: Gemini-based tools handle Gujarati, Hindi and Hinglish well, which makes Labs unusually useful for regional marketing and vernacular training - see our Gujarati AI hub.
• Skills: the differentiator is no longer tool access, it is prompt quality and judgement. That is exactly what our corporate AI workshops and learning roadmap build.
• Governance: experimental tools are not enterprise contracts. Do not paste customer PII, financials or unpublished IP into a Labs experiment - review our AI governance guide and DPDP checklist.

Limits, pricing and cautions

• Many experiments are limited to specific countries and to users 18+; availability changes without notice.
• Free quotas are small. Heavy Flow or Veo use needs Google AI Pro or Ultra.
• Outputs carry SynthID watermarking - assume AI content is detectable and disclose it where it matters.
• Experiments can be discontinued. Export anything you care about.
• Always fact-check generated statistics; ground research work in NotebookLM sources rather than open chat.

Want your team trained on these tools?

I run hands-on sessions on NotebookLM, Flow, Pomelli, Gemini and the wider Google AI stack for corporates, SMEs, colleges and government teams across India, in English and Gujarati.

Book a corporate AI training session or download the AI training brochure. Explore courses, faculty development programmes, AI keynote speaking and AI consulting.

FAQ

What is Google Labs?

Google Labs at labs.google is Google's public hub for experimental AI products, where tools are tested before they graduate into Workspace, Search, Gemini or Cloud.

Is Google Labs free?

Most experiments are free with limited quotas. Video-heavy tools like Flow need a Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription for meaningful usage.

Which Google Labs tool is most useful for business?

NotebookLM for knowledge work, Pomelli for SME marketing, Flow for video content, and Jules or AI Studio for engineering teams.

Is NotebookLM part of Google Labs?

It began as a Labs experiment and is now a full product, including Workspace availability, while new features still arrive through Labs first.

What is Google Flow used for?

AI filmmaking - generating and stitching consistent video shots from text or image prompts using the Veo model, with camera control and native audio.

What is Pomelli?

An AI marketing tool that learns your brand from your website and generates on-brand campaigns, social posts and product visuals for small businesses.

What is Jules?

An asynchronous coding agent that works on a GitHub repo in a cloud VM, writes code, runs tests and raises pull requests.

Are Google Labs tools available in India?

Many are, but availability varies by experiment and changes over time; a few remain US-only at launch.

Can I use Google Labs output commercially?

Usually yes under the applicable terms, but each experiment has its own conditions and outputs are SynthID watermarked, so check before commercial release.

Is my data safe in Google Labs?

Treat experiments as non-enterprise. Avoid customer personal data, credentials and unpublished financials, and use enterprise Gemini or Workspace for sensitive work.

Do Google Labs tools work in Gujarati and Hindi?

Yes, the Gemini-based tools handle Indian languages well for prompting, summarising and content generation.

How do I get started?

Sign in at labs.google, start with NotebookLM and ImageFX, then add Flow or Pomelli depending on whether your priority is video or marketing.