Google Unveils 'Portraits': AI-Powered Mentorship with Real Expert Insights

Google's latest experiment gives you advice from the mentor you always wished you had

This feature lets you receive coaching from AI representations of real-life experts. As Google continues to work on AI experiments at a breakneck pace, the company is already pushing out a fresh one for you to try out. The tech giant's latest creation aims to give you advice through the mentor you always wished you had. In a new blog, Google announced it's rolling out an experiment called "Portraits." This feature appears as an illustrative avatar and is designed to be a Gemini-powered coach based on a real-life expert. The first of these Portraits will feature author Kim Scott, known for the book Radical Candor. According to Google, you'll be able to interact with a Portrait by asking questions, similar to talking with any other chatbot. However, the Portrait uses Scott's voice and draws directly from her content to offer a "relevant and insightful response." This AI focuses specifically on the creator's content, so conversations stay on that coach's particular area of expertise. The Mountain View-based firm is allowing people to try its first Portrait out right now. However, you'll need to be 18 years old and live in the US to have access. If you're eligible, you'll just have to head over to labs.google/portraits.

Portraits: personalized AI coaching built alongside real experts

Portraits, a new experiment from Google Labs, lets you interact conversationally with AI representations of trusted experts built in partnership with the experts themselves. Our first Portrait features Kim Scott, bestselling author of "Radical Candor," and offers AI-powered coaching inspired by her renowned communication and leadership principles. Imagine having direct access to Kim's guidance to navigate tough workplace situations or practice difficult conversations. Simply ask your questions, and the Portrait will use Gemini's understanding and reasoning capabilities to generate a relevant and insightful response, drawing directly from Kim's content and speaking in her voice via an illustrated avatar. Portraits are unique because they are directly linked to real-world trusted experts, like Kim Scott, who have provided their own knowledge and voices. The foundation is the creator's authentic content, which ensures conversations stay focused on their specific areas of expertise. We've conducted extensive testing and implemented user feedback mechanisms to proactively identify and address potential problematic scenarios. It's an early experiment, so your feedback will help us shape the product. Available in the U.S. to users 18 years of age and older, head over to labs.google/portraits to try Kim Scott's Portrait today. If you'd like to partner with us on a Portrait of your own, share your interest through our form.

Google's New AI Tool Can Give You Life Advice with an Expert Touch

Author of Radical Candor, Kim Scott is first of the Portraits and the feature is available in the US. Google has been experimenting with some pretty quirky and fun AI ideas lately, and their latest innovation brings the author of Radical Candor, Kim Scott, to your phone, ready to guide you through your life's problems with a new AI feature called Portraits. Portraits is a conversational AI model that is made in collaboration with experts, as announced in Google's latest blog post. The feature will use a digital avatar of the expert and their previous works, along with Gemini's reasoning capabilities, to answer your complex questions. Author Kim Scott is the first of these Portraits. She has provided her voice, likeness, and knowledge to shape an artificial mentor. According to Google, Portrait's foundation lies in the "creator's authentic content, which ensures conversations stay focused on their specific areas of expertise." Portraits is available as a part of Google Labs in the US, where you can also test other fun features. Like Try it on, which lets you virtually try different clothing options on yourself. We already live in a time when people resort to sharing their deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings with AI chatbots. So, an expert AI mentor doesn't sound out of the ordinary. Portraits is tailor-made to offer sound advice and handle complex emotions that might not be suited for your typical LLM. The expert insight in Google Portraits only adds a sense of trust. Which is usually absent when you know there is not an actual person on the other side. But the human mind is a fragile one, and one wrong response can have huge implications. I am well-versed in Gemini's advanced reasoning and understanding capabilities. But that does not rule out the possibility of hallucinations, which is still a persisting issue. So, one wrong advice, because of the model not understanding the problem, or not knowing the depth of emotions, could result in drastic consequences.