The new Google TV update is a serious bid to get you to watch AI results on your sofa
Google TV, the operating system that mainly powers the next devices in Google’s defunct Chromecast product line, isn’t as ubiquitous compared to the more popular Roku operating system and Samsung’s Tizen, but rightly so, GTV is the one that’s trying the hardest to put the AI horn into the user experience. And the next change announced on Monday at CES will bring photo and video production with the Nano Banana model family of Google Gemini to send the picture to your TV.
As with anything announced at CES, the implied promise is that people will want to use this, and the features described here, I have to admit, are amazing.
There are other features of the AI assistant mentioned in this announcement, but since the advantage that Google TV has over most smart TV applications is that it is connected to your Google account, the most interesting new change is that Gemini will be able to search your library in Google images, and use the Nano Banana features that you may have already connected to your smartphone, but in the comfort of your sofa this time. This means adding mysterious effects to your family photos with the Photos Remix feature, as well as the ability, according to Google’s press release about the update, to “turn memories into immersive cinematic slideshows.”
This next capability is listed separately in Google’s press release, although it sounds a bit like the first: “Use Nano Banana and Veo to reimagine your personal photos or create original media directly on your TV.”
As the images accompanying the announcement make clear, much of what’s on offer here is designed to, well, make TV viewers watch the slop generator.
Google’s Nano Banana and Veo on Google TV: AI’s entry into the lottery https://t.co/XpFywvt6Bw
– HDblog (@HDblog) January 5, 2026
In one image, Google AI Premium users were invited to create videos. Some show real video creation interactions, such as Pixar-style animation sample videos with suggested instructions like, “Fluff fish swim in coral bowls made of squishy string.” There’s a popup at the bottom of this menu that says, “Describe your video…” Below that is instructional text about pressing and holding the microphone button on your remote to talk.
It all paints a picture of an activity meant to be enjoyed in your living room: a “making videos of our family members” game, perhaps. But the window dressing is more cute and kid-oriented than Sora’s method of conveying the mind in a user-generated video.
Sadly, many people I know who tried Sora lost their curiosity after a few days of using the app, and never actually visited it. I can see that being a problem with producing custom videos on Google TV as well. But there is, at least, something novel about interacting with an AI while curled up with a dog and a bowl of popcorn.
Google’s release says these features will arrive first on select TCL devices, and will expand to the rest of the Google TV world “in the coming months.”
