Google's AI-Powered 'Ask Photos' Search Feature Now Rolling Out

Google today said it has started rolling out early access to a new "Ask Photos" feature for its Google Photos app. Available to both iOS and Android users, the new Google ‌Photos‌ feature takes advantage of Google's Gemini AI to provide new ways to search.

With Ask ‌Photos‌, users can use natural language search terms to find specific memories or information in their images. Google says that Google ‌Photos‌ users can ask all sorts of questions to find content from their image libraries, with the feature able to search through all of a person's Google ‌Photos‌ images to bring up relevant results. Some examples:

• What are the best photos from each national park I visited?
• Where did I camp last year?
• When do my tickets expire?
• What were the best things we saw on our trip?
• What did I eat at the hotel in [location]?
• What did I eat at the market in Thailand?
• What are the best photos from the birthday party?
• What themes have we had for family birthday parties?

Ask ‌Photos‌ is able to understand the context and subject of photos to provide answers to questions. With the last question listed above, for example, Ask ‌Photos‌ can see what decorations are in the background of an image or on a birthday cake to answer the query.

The feature can be used to curate the best images taken on a trip, saving editing time. It can also provide trip highlights, and suggest top pictures complete with captions to share on social media.

Google says that personal data in Google ‌Photos‌ isn't used for ads, but some queries will be reviewed by humans to improve the feature. Data will not be linked to a Google Account for privacy protection purposes. Answers provided by Ask ‌Photos‌, including photos and videos, are not reviewed by humans unless feedback is provided or in rare cases to address abuse or harm.

Ask ‌Photos‌ was already previewed at Google I/O, but it has now started rolling out, with Google providing early access to select iOS and Android Google ‌Photos‌ users. Those who want to try the feature can sign up for the waitlist on Google's website.