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With just a few days left in 2024, it’s the perfect time to spotlight the incredible AI tools that made our year brighter, smarter, and a lot more fun. Last week, we kicked things off with the best productivity tools to help you start the new year strong.

This week, we’re turning the spotlight on tools for travel planning, photography, music-making, and more—including some gems from Google Labs.

Whether you’re looking to spark creativity or streamline everyday tasks, these picks are sure to inspire. Let’s get started!

AI Travel Assistance

We're excited about the advancements in generative AI for travel planning.  We initially dipped our toes into the world of AI travel planners with mixed reviews. But in the fast-moving AI space, even a few months can bring a wave of improvements.

Ask Layla is a state-of-the-art AI travel assistant that seems to tick all the boxes. From finding flights to curating complete itineraries, Layla's got you covered—with personality to boot. Layla doesn't just give you options; she offers opinions, making the experience feel like you're planning with a seasoned travel agent.

How it works: Just type in your request, whether it's for hotels, flights, or a full travel plan, and Layla springs into action. You'll get video previews of destinations, a list of activities, accommodation options, and live airline prices.

We tested Layla for a weekend in LA and a four-to-five-day trip to Kauai. Both times, Layla delivered diverse, engaging itineraries, with restaurant recommendations, hotel options, and flight choices with follow-up suggestions and direct links.

How does AI stack up against humans for travel planning? CBS recently explored this in a head-to-head test. Kris Van Cleave, CBS News' senior transportation correspondent, used Google's Gemini bot, while Nancy Chen, a seasoned traveler, relied on conventional online tools. Watch their report here.

Stay tuned as we continue to track the latest innovations and share the best tools and strategies to make your next trip unforgettable.

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AI Picture This

We’re big fans of all the AI-powered photo editing tools coming on the market and while we haven’t settled on any of the ‘pro-models’ yet, we’re having fun trying out all the user-friendly freebies.

PhotoRoom is an AI-powered tool that can quickly and easily replace image backgrounds like magic! It’s not a full editing suite, but its intuitive design, layering tools, and reliable AI make it perfect for beginners.

Here’s how it works:

• Select Image: Upload a PNG or JPG using “Start from a photo.” Higher resolution images work best.

• Remove Background: Once uploaded, your image appears without the background. Adjust the crop if needed.

• Choose a Background: Explore textures, colors, patterns, or themes like Nature (skies, starry nights) and Art (Van Gogh, Masterpiece).

• Free vs. Pro: Free backgrounds are blank tiles; pro options require payment.

• Download: Save a low-res watermarked preview for free or the HD version with a pro account.

We tried PhotoRoom using an image of our beloved Maltese, Bobo, sitting perched on an antique Vespa. The driveway background wasn’t exactly awe-inspiring, so we opted for something in the geometric category that reminded us of the colorful artwork of Peter Max. We love the look!

With the free version, you are limited to 250 image exports. There’s a 7-day free trial if you sign up for a Pro account, so it might be worth your time. We say, go for it!

AI Photo Restoration

Got a stash of old, fading photos tucked away in albums or boxes? We're excited to share a couple of AI-powered gems that can breathe new life into those cherished memories. 

Team member Lori discovered PhotoRestore.io, a handy free tool crafted by Hassan El Mghari, a talented New York-based software engineer. With a simple click, this site works magic on your blurry, faded, or damaged photos, transforming them into clear, high-quality treasures. The site is clear about keeping your privacy and data security as top priorities.

How it works: Lori took a digital image of a fading photo of her mother, uploaded it to PhotoRestore.io, hit ‘restore’, and got a side-by-side comparison within seconds with a remarkably clear version ready for download.

As a final touch, Lori used iPhoto for minor flaw corrections and opted for a classic black-and-white look, bypassing sepia or color options. Five free restorations are available daily. Options include enhancing image quality, increasing resolution, background removal, and colorization. 

Team member Justin went all out with a photo of his great-grandfather using neural.love, a site that also enhances video, generates art, and lets you create your own avatar. After uploading his image, Justin explored various enhancements, such as upscaling resolution, colorizing, and erasing time's wear and tear. The results? A high-def, vibrant image that truly honors his ancestor.

Neural.love operates on a credit system. Starting with five free credits, you can experiment with several features or tidy up a few photos. If you're hooked, subscriptions are available ($27/month) or purchase a one-off batch of credits for $57, depending on your needs.

AI Music Makers

Ever wondered if you could channel your inner Bob Dylan or Adele and create a song that strikes a chord with listeners everywhere? You might think this dream is out of reach, but now there’s Suno, an AI-powered music app for the musically challenged.

Dubbed "ChatGPT for music" by Rolling Stone, the Cambridge, MA-based Suno AI recently launched Suno v4. Users can now enjoy longer songs, better tone and much more natural sounding vocals in a range of musical genres. For a sample, listen to the latest version here.

Suno operates on a surprisingly straightforward premise:

• Input: You provide a short prompt describing the vibe, theme, or story you want your song to convey.

• Magic Happens: Within seconds, Suno churns out two versions of a complete song with lyrics, vocals, and instrumentals included.

• Outcome: You get a polished, radio-ready track tailored to your request, spanning genres from indie pop to epic orchestral scores.

Suno offers three different subscription tiers including one at no cost. We tried the free plan with the prompt, “mellow, coffee house, acoustic” and chose the version of this tune as our favorite.

While there's a legitimate concern that Suno and similar technologies could saturate the market with low-cost, AI-generated content, Suno is not here to replace human creativity. To ensure originality, Suno won’t consider requests to mimic existing artists. Every tune is embedded with an inaudible watermark to identify AI-generated songs.

AI Creative Pursuits

We love sharing the latest experimental tools and technology from Google Arts & Culture. They’re fast, fun, and showcase impressive technology.

Food Mood blends cuisines from different corners of the world into creative inspirations for your next meal. Once you’re connected to the Food Mood dashboard, you’ll find a sample suggestion like this: I want a soup for 4 people mixing influences from Saint Lucia and Vanuatu. 

You can also customize your recipe with extra options. The tool lets you pick vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free meals. You can even add a few specific ingredients of your own, thanks to the auto-suggest menu. Food Mood generates step-by-step instructions, cooking times, and pro tips on one side, while the Google AI image generator cooks up a mouth-watering image on the other.

Ok, so it’s a bit of a gimmick, but here’s what we loved the most: the creative culinary titles for each dish.

Quick, Draw is another experimental tool that asks the question “Can a neural network learn to recognize doodling?” You get 20 seconds and six tries to draw something like "trousers" or "avocado," while the AI attempts to guess what it is.

It's hilarious, creative, and surprisingly addictive. We especially love the AI’s robotic voice as it proclaims, “Oh, I know, it’s…!” Best of all, you're helping to train the world's largest doodling data set, which Google makes publicly available. Science has never been this much fun!

AI in the News (in case you missed it)

• Google Chrome is testing a new AI tool that scans for scams to help save you from online trickery. Read here.

• AI sniffs out whiskey flavor notes as well as the pros. Read here.

• A.I. Revolution: How artificial intelligence is helping children with dyslexia. Watch here.

• AI pioneer Mustafa Suleyman shares his vision for the future of AI. Watch here.

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Here.Now.AI Editorial team: Lori, Justin, and Lisa