Google Photos New “Ask Photos” Feature Uses AI to Supercharge Your Searches

Because Google I/O 2024 is all about AI, one of the first new features Google highlighted included Gemini AI in your Google Photos experience. The new feature is called “Ask Photos” and it should allow you to ask very specific questions for the right results no matter the request.

Since that’s the most vague way to describe it, I’ll have to share Google’s examples of how this might work. The first example is of someone who needs their car’s license plate number on the spot, yet they don’t know it off the top of their head. They enter Google Photos and ask Gemini AI for just that piece of info – “What’s my car’s license plate number?” Photos should then scan through your collection and attempt to return a picture with your license plate showing, not just a bunch of other cars with license plates. It should know you, is the whole idea.

Another example Google used was a family asking about their child’s swimming progress. They tasked Google Photos and AI with finding out when someone first learned to swim. It then created what appeared to be a memory with all sorts of swimming-related photos of their kid, including their certificates for passing class levels.

Google also suggested you ask Google Photos to “Show me the best photo from each national park I’ve visited,” which could create a pretty fun collage. You could even ask about themes from parties you’ve used before, to hopefully keep things fresh for the next one or make sure you don’t bring out the same decorations.

Worried about privacy, since Gemini is scanning through your entire Photos account to find this stuff? Here’s Google’s statement on privacy related to this new integration:

The information in your photos can be deeply personal, and we take the responsibility of protecting it very seriously. Your personal data in Google Photos is never used for ads. And people will not review your conversations and personal data in Ask Photos, except in rare cases to address abuse or harm. We also don’t train any generative AI product outside of Google Photos on this personal data, including other Gemini models and products. As always, all your data in Google Photos is protected with our industry-leading security measures.

Google’s Sundar Pichai said to expect it to rollout later this year or “coming months.”

// Google