Common Sense Machines (CSM)
2D-to-3D asset generator — acquired by Google/DeepMind in 2026
Overview
A Cambridge, Massachusetts startup that turned images, text, and sketches into production-ready 3D meshes, Gaussian splats, and worlds. Google acquired it in January 2026 and folded the ~12-person team into DeepMind; the Cube consumer app shut down on Jan 5, 2026.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 13 Jul 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
What you can produce with Common Sense Machines (CSM)
- Image-to-3D and text-to-3D asset generation (historical)
- 3D meshes, Gaussian splats, and animations
- Composable environment-scale 3D worlds
- PBR retexturing
- Animation library plus text-driven custom animation
- Sketch-to-3D input
ASEAN Perspective
Common Sense Machines (CSM) in Southeast Asia
ASEAN-region availability and pricing notes coming soon. Drop the editorial team a note via /contact/ if you can supply local context (Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia/Thailand/Vietnam).
Read this as a postmortem, not a buying guide. Common Sense Machines built genuinely well-regarded tech — turning a single 2D image, a text prompt, or a sketch into production-ready 3D meshes, Gaussian splats, and composable worlds — and it had fans among game, simulation, and AR developers who wanted environment-scale assets, not just single props. Then Google acquired it on January 24, 2026, moving the roughly twelve-person team into DeepMind, where the plan is to merge its 2D-to-3D models into Gemini's multimodal stack. The consumer-facing Cube app had already announced a January 5, 2026 shutdown. So as an independent product you can sign up for, CSM is effectively gone; its capability is expected to resurface inside Google's tools rather than at csm.ai. If you're hunting for image-to-3D today, look at Meshy, Tripo, or Rodin — and watch what Google ships next.
What people say
What CSM was matters more than what you can buy today, because you can't buy it. On January 24, 2026, Alphabet confirmed it had acquired Common Sense Machines, the Cambridge, Massachusetts startup (founded 2020) behind image-to-3D generation. The roughly twelve-person team, including co-CEO and ex-DeepMind researcher Tejas Kulkarni, joined Google DeepMind. Reporting from 3D Printing Industry, The Information, and others pegged CSM's last valuation near $15 million after a $10 million round backed by Andreessen Horowitz. Coverage frames it as a talent-and-technology acquisition: DeepMind engineers are expected to fold CSM's 2D-to-3D models into Gemini's multimodal stack, with speculation about native 3D generation arriving in Google's Nano Banana image tools and a possible cloud API for bulk asset generation.
Before the deal, CSM had a real following. Its pitch went beyond single-object generators: it produced meshes, Gaussian splats, and animations, and could assemble composable 3D worlds on one canvas — environment-scale output aimed at game, simulation, and VR/AR pipelines. It also offered image-to-3D, text-to-3D, PBR retexturing, and both a stock animation library and text-driven custom animation. Meta even published a technical blog on how CSM used the Segment Anything Model to generate production-ready assets, which lent it credibility with technical users.
The consumer entry point was Cube, a browser app with scaled pricing (paid plans reportedly started around $2.50/month for 25 credits, with a $20/month Pro tier, all including commercial rights). Cube announced it was shutting down on January 5, 2026 — weeks before the Google deal closed — which, in hindsight, signaled the wind-down of the standalone business.
For anyone evaluating CSM now, the practical facts are blunt: the Cube app is closed, the company has been absorbed into Google DeepMind, and there's no active self-serve platform to sign up for. Its technology is likely to reappear inside Google's products rather than under the CSM name. Treat any older CSM review or tutorial as describing a product that no longer independently exists, and weigh current image-to-3D needs against still-operating tools like Meshy, Tripo, or Rodin.
Summary of public user & expert reviews, compiled by RECATOOLS.
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Common Sense Machines (CSM)'s official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Common Sense Machines (CSM) unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
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