Google has made upgrades to its AI Studio development platform, adding a vibe code interface with buttons and retooling the AI Playground as a central hub for the company’s latest AI models. According to Google, users can now easily switch between Gemini, GenMedia (with new Veo 3.1), text-to-speech (TTS) and Live models, “all without losing your place or switching tabs,” while the Chat UI has been conformed more with typical interfaces. The updates allow users to more easily “go from prompt to image to video to voiceover in one continuous flow.”

“Users can experiment with building applications without needing to enter payment information upfront, though certain advanced features like Veo 3.1 and Cloud Run deployment require a paid API key,” VentureBeat reports.

An updated Build tab opens to a new layout and workflow that lets users select from among Google AI models and features to power different applications, the default being Gemini 2.5 Pro.

The updated development workspace led to speculation the changes were priming a path for Gemini 3.0, which has “quietly begun rolling out” this week, reports Marketing Dive.

“The revamp aims to accelerate the path from a simple prompt to a working application, positioning AI Studio as a new entry point into Google’s AI ecosystem,” writes WinBuzzer, noting that the launch counters “recent AI coding tool launches from rivals like Anthropic, heating up the race to democratize AI development.”

With this update, “Google is transforming AI Studio into a platform that lowers the barrier to entry for rapid AI application prototyping and deployment,” suggests SiliconANGLE.

Among the new AI Studio features listed in Google’s blog post:

• A new rate-limit page that provides a real-time view of usage and caps to “avoid surprises.”
• The ability to bring real-world location data into the creative workflow with grounding in Google Maps.
• Saved system instructions that can be reused across chats, “allowing you to perfect your instructions and carry them along with you.”
• A revamped API key page with project grouping and renaming that makes it easier to track keys across multiple projects.

Google AI Studio was launched last year and is “aimed at developers and nontechnical users who want to create grounded AI applications for work,” SiliconANGLE explains, positioning it as a step below Vertex AI, “which offers a more comprehensive environment for creating advanced models and is aimed at specialists such as data scientists and machine learning engineers.”