Tech giants Google and Meta have both launched new AI creative tools that are enhancing the work of designers worldwide. It is allowing for automatic, brand-consistent image and video generation from simple texts and URLs. For Indian designers, this implies a lot of things. Firstly, it shifts roles from manual creation to AI creation. It also accelerates workflows while automating basic ad creatives.
These tools are extremely important in democratizing design and enabling small businesses to produce high-quality, personalized content without large, dedicated creative teams.
These tools are extremely significant for India’s digital-first D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) ecosystem. In this ecosystem, high-speed production of varied ad formats is very crucial.
Before we dive into the impact these new AI creative tools have had on Indian designers, let’s learn a little bit more about the Google and Meta AI creative tools, respectively.
In February 2026, Google launched a new AI tool for 63 million small Indian businesses. It’s called Pomelli. Pomelli is an AI tool from Google Labs and DeepMind that scans your website, extracts your brand identity, and generates social media campaigns that are ready to be posted. The brand identity can include anything from tone, colors, fonts, and visual style, among others.
This is revolutionary since it omits even the basic criteria for an AI LLM model, such as ChatGPT or Gemini, where prompting is necessary. Pomelli removes the requirement for a prompt or even basic design skills. All it needs is a website to scan.
It was launched in several countries in October, while India got a taste of it a few months later. The US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia all accepted it with resounding success.
But the AI creative tool by Google isn’t in itself the entire success story. It’s the marketing choice that takes the cake here.
India’s D2C ecosystem runs on Instagram, WhatsApp, and local ads. Most small sellers cannot afford a creative team, and neither can they afford a consistent Canva workflow. This is where their reliance on freelancers increases a lot. Small sellers depend on freelancers for every single post, but that is not stable.
Google isn’t competing with Canva or Adobe here. They are targeting businesses that currently have no design workflows at all. Each feature of this app functions like magic. The Photoshoot feature turns a photo of a product taken from your phone into a studio-grade shot. The Animate feature, one that’s powered by Veo 3.1, adds motion. Both these features are automatic application to your brand’s visual identity.
Such has been the demand for this AI product in India that it is already crashing the website due to high demand. The Beta version is free. In 2026, applied AI tools are headed towards building a creative layer for businesses that never had one until today. They are doing that without replacing creative professionals.
If Pomelli becomes a success at the national level, Google becomes the default creative infrastructure for small businesses marketing across emerging markets.
Now, as for Meta, they have launched a new era of shopping experiences that are powered by AI, reels, and creators. Shopping on Instagram and Facebook just became a whole lot easier and fun in India. Meta has added AI tools that will boost shopping experiences on these social media websites.
Almost daily, countless people flock to Meta’s apps to discover something new. It could be a product that is loved by creators, a brand that catches everyone’s eye, or even a style they didn’t know they were looking for in the first place.
AI is helping drive those moments of discovery. Be it surfacing more relevant content than ever before or our Advantage+ suite of tools helping millions of businesses transform that relevance into results. Meta has just announced that it’s introducing new ways to guide people from discovery to purchase in this age of AI. This is to help brands drive conversions today, while also enabling businesses to connect through more relevant, personalized experiences.
Businesses in 22 countries, including India, will soon be able to provide their product catalogs to creators. This will help more people find their products in creators’ reels. This new update turns creator content into a new sales channel for businesses as well as a new opportunity for creators to monetize.
Meta is also introducing enhanced target audience filtering. It is an integration with custom audiences in Ads Manager that makes it easier than ever for businesses to quickly identify creators who are a good match for their goals. It is very likely to perform well in a partnership ad campaign.
On top of that, Meta has also announced that it is expanding its Reels Trending Ads inventory by adding new trending content categories. This includes everything from TV & Movies, Travel, Business, Finance & Investments. It gives more opportunities for advertisers to place their brand alongside the most culturally relevant Reels when people are most engaged.
8 Key AI Innovations Improving the Online Shopping Journey
- Testing Product Set Optimization
- Bringing Product Showcase to More Places
- Fuel Performance with Diverse Creative
- UGC-Style Videos with Avatars
- Speak Your Customers’ Language Effortlessly
- Maximizing Catalog Product Video and Reels Ads Performance
- Catalog Product Video at Scale
- Flexible Catalog Product Video Designs for Instagram Reels
5 Important Takeaways for Designers from the Google and Meta AI Launch
1. Automation of Routine Tasks
Google’s Pomelli, one that is powered by DeepMind, can turn websites into social campaigns at the drop of a hat. Add to it the production of studio-quality product photos and animated ads.
2. Rapid Asset Generation
Meta’s Advantage+ Creative expansion allows for automated video generation from static images, AI-powered music, and voiceover creation.
3. Shift to Curator Role
Designers can now refine themselves as editors. They can use AI as a baseline and refine outputs to match premium brand requirements.
4. Focus on Strategy & Customization
As AI handles volume, human designers can now focus on higher-level, strategic creative direction and complex brand storytelling.
5. Enhanced Personalization
Tailored, customized visuals for a diverse audience persona can now be generated using these tools. This frees designers to focus on complex, bespoke campaigns.
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