Google's Dreambeans finds stories on its own, and it's the first AI app I want to keep

I've spent years testing new apps, websites, and experiments powered by AI. Many of them are the result of solid ideas and middling execution, and it's tricky to figure out how they fit into your daily life or productivity workflows. Take Gemini Omni or Nano Banana, for example — I don't need AI to create photo and video slop. I'm admittedly biased, but I also don't need Google AI Overviews to summarize the news. Often, when I click through to the original source, it says something completely different from the AI Overview's summary.

Google Labs has a new AI app called Dreambeans, and I've been using it for about a week. Google says this app provides "proactive, personalized collections of stories," but what exactly does that mean? Based on my experience, Dreambeans doesn't wait for you to search for a topic or for a news outlet to write about it. By combing through primary sources and learning your habits, Dreambeans presents you with stories that are genuinely insightful — and aren't just a rip-off of existing content.

Dreambeans curates primary sources

It isn't summarizing articles, it's finding information on its own

Google's strength lies in its search and services stronghold. Google can tap into your Google Search activity, Google Calendar events, Google Workspace data, YouTube watch history, and more to personalize the company's AI offerings. It's part of the reason AI features like Gemini Daily Brief and Google CC are so effective. Dreambeans is unlike anything we've seen from Google Labs before, because it does more than pluck content from your inbox, calendar, or Google Drive storage.

It's true that, at least for now, AI doesn't create content. It's able to remix content based on training materials and existing human works, but it doesn't make anything truly original. Google's Dreambeans app comes the closest to creating original news content, because it pulls information directly from its source, rather than summarize published content written by humans. Since it's personalized to align with your interests, Dreambeans can show AI-generated stories that may be too niche for traditional media outlets and content creators to cover.

Let's dive into a few examples of stories in my Dreambeans feed, and you'll quickly see what I mean. I'm a college basketball fanatic, specifically interested in the Big East and St. John's University basketball. Dreambeans knows this, and it shows me a story titled "Revisiting Classic St. John Basketball Moments at Madison Square Garden." This isn't an AI rewrite of a fan blog post; it's a semi-original story based on statistics from the official St. John's Athletics archive.

Another great example of the Dreambeans app's ability to come up with somewhat original stories is one titled "Setting Scheduled Departure on Your Tesla Model Y." For one, it knows the kind of car I drive, which opens up a host of personalized stories. But the more surprising element was in the body of the story: Dreambeans suggested I match the charging cutoff of my EV to my Salt River Project price plan in order to use off-peak electricity.

It knows the car I drive, where I get my electricity, and how I can integrate them both to save money. The source wasn't an article from an automotive publication; it was the official Model Y owner's manual from Tesla. It'd be unfair to say that Dreambeans created this content on its own, because a human still had to create the St. John's Athletics archive and the Tesla owner's manual. However, it's clear that the Dreambeans app is actively seeking out potential stories on its own.

It uses your connected apps for personalization

Dreambeans knows the car I drive and the teams I root for

Dreambeans can be as personal as you'd like, depending on how much data you share. You can connect your Google Workspace apps, including Gmail and Calendar. If you're a YouTube fan, there's an option to personalize Dreambeans with your watch history. Or, you can give Dreambeans access to your Google Photos library. If you grant access, your personal photos can be shown in place of the AI-generated illustrations attached to each story.

The trick is deciding how much personal data to share with Dreambeans. The benefits of personalizing your Dreambeans feed with Google account data are obvious: you'll get better results. I wouldn't have seen the stories about my car or my college sports team had I not linked my Google Workspace apps to Dreambeans. It pulled my car model and electricity provider from my email, and probably learned about my sports fandom there, too.

However, sharing personal data with any AI service is not a decision to make lightly. You have to choose how much data you're willing to share in exchange for personalized stories. I consider an app like Dreambeans to be lower risk than, say, Meta's Muse — the latter is a full-service AI agent that can take serious actions on your behalf. Dreambeans, by comparison, merely uses your personal data to get a grasp on your interests.

Regardless, it's up to you how much data to share with Dreambeans. I decided to share access to my Google Workspace and YouTube data, but didn't grant access to my Google Photos library. It may be an arbitrary line to draw, but I'd rather keep my family photos and videos as private as possible. If you aren't willing to connect any apps with Dreambeans, you can still craft the personalized feed manually with prompts and feedback that guide it in the right direction.

Dreambeans should lose the illustrations

Show me real photos — and less lifestyle, more productivity

Dreambeans is still a Google Labs experiment, but it's now available to all personal Google accounts for U.S. users on Android and iOS. You might remember that NotebookLM, now called Gemini Notebook, was once a Google Labs experiment as well. There's potential here for Dreambeans to become a fan-favorite app of that caliber, although it has work to do. I'd like to see Dreambeans ditch the AI illustration and focus on sourcing real-world photos to strengthen stories.

Speaking of stories, Dreambeans should ensure every story is as fleshed out as it can be. Currently, each story in Dreambeans is a snapshot that guides you to the source link it's based on. That sounds good in theory, but I don't want to have to dive headfirst into a St. John's record book every time Dreambeans suggests a story. The app should form stories that stand on their own, so that researching sources further is an option, not a requirement.

While I'm nitpicking, I also question whether Dreambeans needs to be a standalone app. It's useful, but it could've easily been a tab in the Gemini app instead. Regardless, the Dreambeans app is definitely worth checking out, because it delivers personalized stories that you won't find anywhere else.