Google is investing billions into artificial intelligence, and one of their latest creations is turning heads in the tech world.

Enter Opal, Google's brand new AI app builder that allows anyone to create mini AI applications using natural language.

But is this tool worth your time?

Let's take a closer look at Google Opal and see if it lives up to the hype.

Exploring Opal's AI Experiments and Templates

When you first log into Opal, you're greeted with a gallery of templates. These pre-built mini-apps showcase the potential of what you can create with this tool.

Let's explore some of the more interesting templates:

Book Recommendations Mini-App

This template aims to provide personalized book suggestions based on user input. While the concept is intriguing, I encountered some issues when testing it out.

The app seemed to get stuck on certain steps, particularly when generating purchase links. It's worth noting that this could be due to the experimental nature of the tool.

Business Profiler

The business profiler template performed better. I tested it by inputting "No Code MBA" as the business to analyze. The app quickly searched the web and Google Maps to generate a summary of the company.

While the result was somewhat basic, it demonstrated the potential for quick business intelligence gathering.

YouTube Video Quiz Generator

This template really caught my attention. It takes a YouTube video URL as input and creates a quiz based on the video content. I tested it with one of our own videos, and the results were impressive.

The app extracted the video transcript, analyzed the educational content, and generated a comprehensive quiz with multiple-choice questions. It even provided feedback on correct and incorrect answers.

AI Video Ad Creator

Perhaps the most ambitious template I tried was the AI video ad creator. This multi-step process generates ad text, video descriptions, and even creates a video based on a product description and target audience. While it took longer to process, the output was surprisingly good, especially considering I input a fictional product (a colorful umbrella).

Building Custom AI Apps with Google Opal

After exploring the templates, I decided to dive into creating a custom app from scratch. Opal offers a variety of input options, including:

• User input
• File uploads
• YouTube video links
• Text input
• Drawing input

For the "generate" step, you can choose from several AI models and tasks:

• Complex tasks
• Deep research
• Image generation
• Speech generation from text
• Video generation
• Music generation

You can also incorporate web searches, map searches, and weather data into your app's workflow.

When it comes to output, Opal offers several options:

• Web page generation
• Text output
• Manual layout
• Save to Google Docs
• Save to Google Slides
• Save to Google Sheets

Advantages of Using Google Opal for AI App Development

As I explored Opal, several key advantages became apparent:

Multi-step AI Applications

Opal excels at creating workflows that involve multiple AI tasks. This is particularly useful for complex processes that require data from various sources or multiple AI operations.

Google Ecosystem Integration

The seamless integration with Google's suite of tools (Docs, Slides, Sheets) and AI models (like Gemini) is a significant advantage. This makes it easy to incorporate Opal-generated content into your existing workflow.

No-code Platform

Opal's natural language interface means you don't need coding skills to create sophisticated AI applications. This democratizes AI app development, making it accessible to a wider audience.

Access to Advanced AI Tools

With Opal, you get access to a range of powerful AI models and tools that would be challenging to implement on your own. This includes image generation, speech synthesis, and video creation capabilities.

Potential Use Cases for Google Opal

After experimenting with Opal, I can see several potential applications across various industries:

Educational Content Creation

The YouTube quiz generator demonstrates how Opal could be used to create interactive learning materials quickly. Teachers could use this to generate quizzes, summaries, or study guides based on video lectures.

Marketing and Advertising

The AI video ad creator shows promise for small businesses or marketers looking to generate quick, customized ad content.

While it may not replace professional video production, it could be a useful tool for rapid prototyping or creating content for A/B testing.

Business Intelligence

The business profiler template, while basic in its current form, hints at the potential for more sophisticated business intelligence tools. With some refinement, this could become a valuable resource for market research or competitive analysis.

Personal Productivity

The ability to create custom AI workflows could be a game-changer for personal productivity. Users could create apps to automate repetitive tasks, organize information, or generate reports based on multiple data sources.

​An alternative is something like Lindy:​

Is Google Opal Worth Trying?

After spending time with Opal, my initial skepticism gave way to cautious optimism. While some templates had issues, the overall potential of the platform is impressive. The ability to create multi-step AI workflows without coding is powerful, and the integration with Google's ecosystem is a significant advantage.

That said, Opal is clearly still in its experimental stages. Some processes take longer than ideal, and there were occasional glitches or unexpected results. However, these are typical growing pains for new AI tools, and I expect many of these issues to be ironed out as the platform matures.

Opal shines brightest when creating multi-step processes that would be tedious to do manually or difficult to implement with a single AI model.

If you frequently find yourself wishing you could automate complex workflows involving multiple AI tasks, Opal could be a valuable addition to your toolkit.

While it may not replace standalone AI tools for simple tasks, Opal's strength lies in its ability to chain together multiple AI operations and integrate them with Google's suite of productivity tools. This makes it particularly appealing for businesses already heavily invested in the Google ecosystem.

As AI continues to evolve, tools like Opal that make AI app development more accessible will likely play an increasingly important role.

Whether you're a marketer looking to streamline content creation, an educator developing interactive learning materials, or a business analyst seeking to automate research processes, Opal offers an intriguing glimpse into the future of AI-powered productivity.

Want to learn more about building AI-powered applications without coding? Check out our courses at No Code MBA. We offer in-depth tutorials on various no-code tools that can help you leverage AI in your projects.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Is Google Opal free to use?

As of now, Google Opal appears to be in an experimental phase and access may be limited. It's best to check Google's official channels for the most up-to-date information on availability and pricing.

Do I need coding skills to use Google Opal?

No, Google Opal is designed as a no-code platform. You can create AI apps using natural language instructions and a visual interface.

How does Google Opal compare to other AI tools like ChatGPT?

While tools like ChatGPT excel at single-step interactions, Opal's strength lies in creating multi-step AI workflows and integrating with Google's ecosystem. It's more of an app builder than a standalone chatbot.

Can I use Google Opal for commercial projects?

The terms of use for commercial applications may vary. It's important to review Google's terms of service and any specific guidelines for Opal before using it for commercial purposes.

What types of AI models does Google Opal use?

Opal appears to use a variety of Google's AI models, including those for text generation, image creation, and speech synthesis. It likely incorporates models from the Gemini family, Google's latest AI technology.