Google made several exciting announcements during the first day of Google I/O 2021. The company rolled out the first Android 12 beta build for its Pixel lineup and highlighted some of the new features included in the latest OS update, it unveiled some interesting features for Google Chrome and Google Maps, gave us our first look at the revamped Wear OS platform, and even shared some details about a new language model called LaMDA. On top of that, the company announced a couple of new features that will make their way to Google Photos later this year, including a new password-protected safe folder for sensitive images, an updated machine learning model to help users discover special memories, and a feature called Cinematic Moments.

In December last year, Google Photos received a new feature called Cinematic Photos. The feature used "machine learning to predict an image's depth and produce a 3D representation of the scene -- even if the original image doesn't include depth information from the camera." With the new Cinematic Moments feature, Google plans to take things a step further and use machine learning to bring your photos to life.

Google explains that the Cinematic Moments feature will use neural networks to stitch two nearly identical photos to create an animated version of the scene. As you can see in the attached GIF, the neural network will "synthesize the movement" between the photos and fill in the gaps with new frames to create vivid, moving images.

The feature will work with any pair of nearly identical photos, irrespective of the source. Once it rolls out, Google Photos will automatically create these Cinematic Moments, and they will show up in the Recent Highlights section on the app. Check out our previous coverage to learn more about all the new features coming to Google Photos this year.