Android 17

No, Android 17’s new 3D emoji are not AI generated

Ben Schoon | May 13 2026 - 9:55 am PT

Google’s refreshed emoji designs left many wondering if AI generation was involved, but Android 17’s 3D emoji are, in fact, “hand-modeled.”

Emoji Kitchen chef Jennifer Daniel confirmed in a post on Instagram that the new 3D emoji coming to Android 17 (and other Google properties) are not AI-generated. Rather, they’re “hand-modeled” and “true 3D objects,” explaining:

Today we shared a sneak peak of our new hand-modeled 3D emoji (!!!!!!) YES THEY ARE ACTUALLY TRUE 3D OBJECTS!!!!! Our favorite characters now have the same depth of your very real thoughts and feelings.

The post also contains a corrected version of the emoji preview grid that Google shared with 9to5Google and other members the press ahead of yesterday’s news, where certain emoji such as the cat smirking are fixed. There were a few oddities in that original side-by-side comparison.

Existing (L) vs Android 17 (R)

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Corrected version shared by Jennifer Daniel on Instagram and Google’s blog post

After Google shared the new design, there was wide speculation that AI had been used for the redesign – not exactly a wild guess in today’s world. But, given that Jennifer Daniel and the team at Google had been building emoji and the Emoji Kitchen through the work of actual human artists, it would have been pretty disappointing to see it go in any other direction. Dr. Alexander Robertson, an “Emoji Researcher” at Google, also confirmed that the 4,000~ emoji redesigns were done “by hand.”

Google explained that its “3D emoji bring a touch of physicality to these moments and help you overcome this digital divide.” The new designs will show up first in Android 17 on Pixel phones “later this year.”