Google Photos is getting two new features to simplify image searches. No more scrolling through thumbnails to find a photo, now you can just make a query in natural language. Magic!
If you have an Android phone, chances are you use the Google Photos app to store all of your photos and videos online on the Internet giant’s servers. At the same time, it must be said that it is a simple and practical tool that automatically organizes your stored content into your albums. But while the application’s interface has not changed much for many years, the Mountain View firm has nevertheless integrated several very useful functions over the years. As with its other tools, the company has, for example, recently focused on artificial intelligence (AI). Currently, the application has received an update to test two new options that could further optimize the performance of AI in Google Photos.
Google Photos: Easier Searching Thanks to AI
In a blog post published this Thursday, September 5, 2024, Google announced the arrival of an improvement to the search function in Photos. As a reminder, this is an option using Gemini’s AI and allowing its users to search for a particular photo more easily. With 6 billion photos uploaded to the platform every day, users’ galleries are constantly growing, to the point that, to find a particular photo, you have to scroll through pages and pages before finding what you’re looking for. To do this, Google Photos customers had to type keywords in the search bar. Soon, they will be able to take advantage of the new Google Photos function using natural and more descriptive language than before.
In other words, it will be possible to find a photo or video by describing a person, an action, a landscape or an activity. In its press release, Google reveals several examples of searches to find a memory such as: “Alice and I laughing”, “Kayaking on a lake surrounded by mountains” or even “Emma painting in the garden.” Once the search is done, it is also possible to refine the results by sorting the content by relevance or by date.
The second improvement is an update to the Ask Photos feature. This addition uses Gemini’s multimodal capabilities to analyze the content and context of photos and videos, providing an additional level of interaction. For example, it will soon be possible to ask Google Photos more complex questions such as: “What is my license plate number?” or even “Where did we camp the last time we were in Brittany?”. The Ask Photos feature will analyze the most relevant photos and videos with these searches in order to provide an answer. For now, this option is not yet available in France since it has only been deployed in early access for certain users in the United States. You will therefore have to be patient before being able to use it.