Tristen O’Brien, an artificial intelligence educator and YouTube creator, recently demonstrated how individuals can transform children’s drawings into animated characters and short films using Google Gemini, a free tool O’Brien described as “Google’s ChatGPT.” The process requires only the ability to take a picture and send a text message, allowing parents and grandparents to preserve cherished artwork by bringing crayon or pencil drawings to life through AI. O’Brien noted that physical artwork often fades from memory when stored away. The transformation begins by photographing a drawing and uploading it to Google Gemini, with O’Brien emphasizing the necessity of a specific prompt to instruct Gemini to create a 3D animated image that looks “exactly like the picture” to avoid a similar but not identical output. Once the 3D image is generated, users can prompt Gemini to turn it into an animated movie, allowing customization such as depicting the character engaging in a child’s favorite hobby. O’Brien underscored the importance of clear instructions, stating, “The biggest thing is you do want to go in and you do want to tell your Gemini that you want it to look exactly like the picture itself.” The applications extend beyond simple animations, as O’Brien shared an example of a person who used the process to turn drawings into characters for an animated video game.