2025-06-27T09:52:20Z

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In a significant development for its photo management service, Google Photos has announced that it is expanding access to its innovative AI-powered search feature, known as Ask Photos. After spending nearly a year in experimentation, the feature experienced a temporary rollback earlier this month, prompted by user feedback that highlighted areas needing improvement.

Unveiled during the Google I/O 2024 event, Ask Photos offers users a more intuitive and conversational search experience. For example, users can input queries such as, "suggest photos that'd make great phone backgrounds" or "what did I eat on my trip to Barcelona?" The app leverages advanced Google Gemini models to understand and fulfill these requests effectively.

For the latter query, Ask Photos will not only identify the geographical context of the uploaded images but also filter through photos taken during the trip to Barcelona, showcasing only food-related pictures. This is a significant upgrade from traditional search methods, which would require users to input specific keywords, like "Barcelona" or travel dates, to retrieve a mixed collection of images.

Previously, Ask Photos had been in beta testing since September of last year, but it faced challenges that led to its temporary withdrawal. A product manager from Google indicated that the feature had not yet reached its desired performance level, particularly highlighting issues related to latency, overall quality, and user experience (UX).

The latest announcement from Google suggests that one of the primary concerns was the slowdown of basic search queries. It seems that even simple searches were being routed through the more complex Gemini models, which delayed responses that users had come to expect from a speedy app.

In response to this feedback, Google has stated, "We’ve also heard your feedback that it should return more photos faster for simple searches, like 'beach' or 'dogs.' To address this, we're bringing the best of Photos' classic search feature into Ask Photos and improving latency, so you can get fast help with simple and complex queries in one place." This integration aims to enhance user experience by merging traditional search capabilities with AI-enhanced results.

The rollout of Ask Photos is currently underway for users in the United States, though Google has not disclosed a specific timeline for when it will be available to all users globally. As more people gain access to this feature, it promises to transform the way users interact with their photo collections, making retrieval both smarter and more efficient.