Google is expanding its Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, meaning software that processes or generates content automatically, across several practical areas. AI Mode in Search can handle parts of travel planning, Gemini Notebook can work with purchased books, and new Gemini models generate video or turn speech into polished text. These changes affect travelers as well as students, managers, and anyone who regularly works with audio or video.
What can you use for travel?
Google’s AI Mode is moving from a search assistant toward something closer to a travel assistant. You can describe your destination and dates in natural language and receive flight options with current prices from more than 300 airlines and travel websites. According to the announcement of the new travel features, you can build matching flights into an itinerary or ask Google to monitor their prices.
If the price changes for your selected destination and dates, Google sends an email. The company says this tracking feature is available in more than 180 countries. The source does not provide a country list, however, so it does not explicitly confirm availability in Switzerland.
You can also include loyalty points and miles in a search. Google’s example is a trip from Atlanta to Miami using American Airlines miles: AI Mode shows matching nonstop flights and the required mileage. Google says points and miles pricing is available globally, though its usefulness will depend on which loyalty programs are integrated.
For hotels, you can enter your destination, dates, and preferences in a conversation. Results include reviews and key selection factors, after which a “Continue on Google” option connects you with participating hotel chains and booking platforms. You then choose a room, review details such as the cancellation policy, and pay with Google Pay, while the hotel or booking service remains responsible for the reservation and customer support.
Hotel booking is initially rolling out in the United States and in English. Google has not provided a date or list of supported languages for Switzerland. AI Mode may shorten the search process, but it does not remove the need to check the total price, room category, and cancellation rules; the source does not state a separate fee for using the AI feature.
How do books and videos support your work?
Gemini Notebook can use its “Expert Intelligence” feature to import content from books you purchased through Google Play Books. You can ask questions about the text and turn its material into plans, infographics, or AI podcasts. According to the report on the book integration, more than 100,000 titles from publishers including Penguin Random House, Johns Hopkins University Press, Macmillan, and O’Reilly will be supported at launch.
Google demonstrated two specific uses. Gemini Notebook generated a recipe book from Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules,” while Kim Scott’s management book “Radical Candor” helped answer a question about handling a difficult conversation with an employee. Fifteen authors have also created featured notebooks with additional sources and introductory material.
The feature is tied to ownership of the book. If you share a notebook, people who do not own the title can see that it was used as a source, but they cannot open the full text or information derived from it. Supported books carry a “Gemini Notebook” label under Tools in Google Play Books; the sources do not specify Swiss availability or the number of supported German-language titles.
For video work, Google is introducing Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash. When extending a scene, the model analyzes up to ten seconds of the existing footage and can add new material in ten-second increments, up to a total length of 40 seconds. This is intended to preserve characters, movement, and visual style more consistently than the earlier method, which considered only the final second.
Advanced users can upload up to three seconds of external footage as a style reference or define starting and ending images. These keyframes are fixed visual states between which the model generates camera movement. The overview of Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash also describes a 360p draft mode that, according to Google, runs up to 60 percent faster and costs one-third as much as 720p generation.
Pricing is calculated per generated second: $0.03 at 360p, $0.10 at 720p, $0.15 at 1080p, and $0.30 at 4K. A 40-second draft at 360p would therefore cost $1.20 if every second is billed, with additional attempts raising the total. The model is available through Google AI Studio, making it more suitable for advanced users than for someone expecting a simple consumer video editor.
How does Transcribe change voice input?
Gemini 3.5 Transcribe is a speech-to-text model, meaning a system that converts spoken audio into written text. According to Google, it automatically recognizes more than 85 languages, removes filler words such as “um,” handles spoken corrections, and formats the result. For recorded audio, it can distinguish up to three speakers and add timestamps.
In everyday use, you could dictate a message freely and receive a cleaned-up version. With a recorded conversation, the model can assign statements to different speakers, reducing the work involved in reviewing a meeting. You can also provide custom vocabulary to improve its handling of specialized terms.
Google offers a real-time version with less than one second of latency, meaning the delay between speech and text, as well as a version for recorded conversations, meetings, and call logs. In Google’s description of Gemini 3.5 Transcribe, the company says the model is already used in the Gemini app on macOS and in new Android voice features. A separate report says Rambler in Gboard is initially limited to Pixel 11 phones, with support for more devices planned later.
The reports disagree on accuracy. A summary of the technical claims gives a provider-reported word error rate, the share of incorrectly transcribed words, of 4.0 percent for streaming and 2.6 percent for recorded audio. Ars Technica instead reports 5.5 percent for live speech and 7.32 percent for the earlier Chirp 3 model; both accounts say latency improved by 70 percent.
The figures may come from different tests, but the supplied material does not explain the discrepancy. They should therefore be treated as provider claims rather than independently verified results. Ars Technica’s hands-on assessment was positive for short passages but warned that the model changes what you said instead of merely transcribing it.
What are the pros and cons of Google’s new AI tools?
Pros:
- Fewer service changes – You can prepare travel options, price tracking, and parts of a booking within one conversation.
- Defined source material – Gemini Notebook works from books you purchased instead of relying only on a model’s general knowledge.
- Faster media workflows – Video drafts, extended scenes, and cleaned transcripts can shorten early production steps.
- Multilingual input – Automatic recognition of more than 85 languages is useful for international conversations and mixed-language workplaces.
Cons:
- Limited availability – Hotel booking starts only in the United States and in English, while Rambler initially requires specific devices.
- Altered wording – Transcribe removes fillers and incorporates corrections, which can be unsuitable for records, interviews, or direct quotations.
- Ongoing video costs – Repeated drafts and higher resolutions can quickly make a project more expensive than its first test.
- Unanswered data questions – The sources do not provide detailed privacy terms for travel preferences, audio files, or workplace conversations.
What does this mean in practice?
If you are a beginner, start with a task whose output is easy to verify. You might describe a flight and its dates, then check the proposed prices with the provider, or compare a short dictation with the original audio. In Gemini Notebook, a narrowly defined question about a book you have already read is a sensible first test.
Advanced users can get more value by combining the tools without giving up review. You could turn information from a purchased professional book into a work plan, create a short video draft, and transcribe a spoken explanation. For video, it makes sense to begin with the less expensive 360p version and move to a higher resolution only after the content and motion are correct.
For users in Switzerland, the picture is mixed. Global points and miles pricing and broad language support are potentially useful, but hotel booking begins in the United States, and the sources confirm neither Swiss German nor regional access to every book and device feature. The supplied reports also provide no specific details about the handling of sensitive conversation or travel data.
Google is clearly shifting AI from general answers toward actions within specific tasks. Its practical value is visible in travel comparisons, book-based preparation, video drafts, and polished dictation, although individual features remain regionally or technically restricted. The main unresolved risk is that convenient automation can present prices, wording, or source material convincingly without fully guaranteeing their accuracy.
Sources
- Google’s AI Mode can now track flight prices, help book hotels, and more – Unknown, 2026-08-27
- Google’s AI note-taking app now allows you to interact with books – Unknown, 2026-08-27
- Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash: Google macht KI-Videogenerierung günstiger und flexibler – Unknown, 2026-08-27
- Googles Gemini 3.5 Transcribe erkennt über 85 Sprachen und filtert Füllwörter in Echtzeit heraus – Unknown, 2026-08-27
- Google announces Gemini 3.5 Transcribe for AI-powered speech-to-text – Unknown, 2026-08-26
- Intelligent transcription with Gemini 3.5 Transcribe – Unknown, 2026-08-26
