Brady is a technology journalist for MakeUseOf with years of experience covering all things mobile, computing, and general tech. He has a focus on Android phones and audio gear, and holds a B.S. in Journalism from St. John's University.
Brady has written for publications like Android Central, Android Authority, XDA, Android Police, iMore, and others. He has experience reporting on major events held by Google, Apple, and Samsung, as well as trade shows like Lenovo Innovation World and IFA.
When he's not writing about and testing the latest gadgets, you'll find Brady watching Big East basketball and running.
When you think of Google Workspace, the primary apps like Docs, Slides, or Sheets are usually top of mind. However, Google has expanded its workplace offerings in recent years, both inside and outside of Workspace. The fan favorite is NotebookLM, a research and learning tool that can also create podcast-style Audio Overviews or informative Video Overviews. It's one of the easiest ways to create an AI-generated video about a topic, and that's why many use NotebookLM just for Video Overviews. But if you're just trying to generate a video or slide deck for work, there's a better way.
Google Vids is an AI-powered tool that's sole purpose is to generate videos and presentations. Unlike NotebookLM's Video Overviews, which require creating a notebook and selecting sources, you can start making videos in Vids with a simple text prompt. You also get more granular control over topics, styles, and formatting, and can generate video, voiceovers, and AI avatars. If you haven't tried Google Vids yet, you're missing out on one of the best ways to improve your productivity.
Related I gave in and tried NotebookLM's popular features and it forever changed how I learn
Audio and Video Overviews give you an engaging crash course on any topic you can imagine, using your NotebookLM sources for accurate context.
Posts 1 By Brady Snyder Start creating a video or slide deck with a simple prompt Unlike NotebookLM, you don't need a notebook or sources -- just one prompt
Google Vids is somewhat like Google Slides in that it offers default design styles and royalty-free stock video and audio content. It's not entirely reliant on artificial intelligence, though it is a core part of the experience. You start on Google Vids by using a Help me create text field and entering a prompt. Google Vids lives at docs.google.com/videos, and that's where you can manage existing projects or begin a new one. After pressing Start a new video, click Storyboard to use Gemini to describe the video you want to create.
There are a few ways to improve the output of your Google Vids project. To start, use meta prompting in the regular Gemini app to refine a detailed description of your video before entering it in Google Vids. Another trick is to supply Vids with context stored in Workspace to get better results. You can include a document, presentation, or spreadsheet in your prompt by tagging it with the @ symbol. For example, you might have meeting notes summarized with Gemini in a Google Doc that can be uploaded to Vids for context.
There's plenty of room for customization after submitting your initial prompt. Gemini then generates a sample video timeline with up to 50 video objects and audio objects each. You can curate this to your liking before the first video and slide deck are generated. After that, you can select and preview a style. When you've ironed out your video timeline and style, Google Vids will generate the template.
The first draft video generated by Google Vids includes an outline, a sample script, media, and a voiceover. The output isn't the kind of video you'd get from Veo or Sora image-generation models. Instead, the draft video is more like a slide deck. It can include images, videos, and music, but these aren't guaranteed to be AI-generated. In fact, if you include links to Workspace files with relevant media stored within, Vids can extract them for use in your presentation.
Throw in narration, music, or an AI avatar Supercharge your videos and decks with AI-powered multimedia
The fun really begins after you have the first draft video. Then, you can start customizing the video timeline, each audio or video object, and adding generative AI elements. There's a tab for generating eight-second videos with Veo 3.1, creating custom AI avatars, generating Nano Banana images, and making AI voiceovers. If you don't want to go the AI route, you can use stock photos, web images, or upload your own content.
The draft video includes a sample script and AI-generated voiceover, but you can customize the script and spoken content to match the goals of your slide deck. There's also a built-in tool for recording your screen or self-narrating the video with a teleprompter.
The individual slides will be pretty bare bones, including only slide templates, headings, and the occasional photo or video. You'll need to add the actual content, just like you would a fresh Google Slides project or presentation.
In that way, Google Vids isn't automating the entire process. It lets you focus on the important work -- writing or structuring the presentation -- while taking care of the tedious work of formatting, narrating, or sourcing media. It's more of a productivity tool than a gimmick churning out AI slop, and to be clear, that's a great thing.
Google Vids might be better than NotebookLM and Slides At making engaging presentations or videos, Google Vids stands alone
There are an abundance of ways to create videos or presentations with AI in Google Workspace. You can use Gemini in Google Slides to create presentations from scratch, or put together a notebook in NotebookLM to generate a Video Overview. Google Vids just might be the best option because it's fully centered around enterprise applications and productivity. The goal is to create content that could be presented in a meeting room or solve a problem. Sometimes, Vids uses AI to achieve that goal, but it doesn't rely on it when there are better options available.
Google Vids is a hybrid between a presentation builder, video editor, and AI generator. It can do it all, but that's part of what makes it great. The tool is completely free and combines a few of Google's best AI models, including Gemini, Veo, and Nano Banana, making it more versatile than something like Slides or NotebookLM.
