Google Expands Project Genie with Street View Integration

Google DeepMind has expanded Project Genie, its general-purpose world model, by integrating Google Street View imagery. This new capability, called Maps Imagery Grounding, allows users to anchor AI-generated interactive environments in real-world locations. Starting today, Project Genie with Street View is rolling out to Google AI Ultra subscribers ($200/month) globally for users aged 18 and over. Users can select a place in the U.S. via a Maps pin, choose a style (e.g., 'Ocean World,' 'Desert Sands,' 'Stone Age,' 'B&W film'), and describe a character to generate an imaginative world tied to Street View imagery. Examples include scuba diving around the Golden Gate Bridge or exploring the Fort Worth Stockyards in 1920s style. Genie, launched earlier, has been used for research in agent learning and reasoning, including simulations for Waymo. The feature is currently available for U.S. locations, with plans to expand. Project Genie remains an experimental research prototype in Google Labs, with ongoing improvements for detail and accuracy.