Google Photos

Here’s a quick sneak peek at ‘Ask Photos’ in Google Photos [Gallery]

Ben Schoon | Jul 18 2024 - 7:25 pm PT

One of Google’s upcoming AI features is “Ask Photos” in the Google Photos app which will allow users to quickly gather information from their photo library using generative AI. The feature hasn’t started rolling out yet, but we’ve got a quick look at how the feature will look within the app.

The short way to describe what “Ask Photos” will be able to do is that it’s like the existing, already-powerful search in Google Photos, but supercharged. Google showed how the feature will work earlier this year with a brief demo showing a user asking Photos to show “the best photo from each national park I’ve visited.” It sounds like a super useful idea.

Now, we’re getting just a bit more insight into how Google plans to implement the feature.

One of our readers was briefly given access to “Ask Photos” on their Pixel 8 Pro earlier today – it notably didn’t appear on any of their other devices – with the Google Photos app mentioning it was part of a “pre-release” study. From the disclaimer we’ve viewed, it sounds like Google is trying to get feedback from some users, but it’s unclear how wide this “study” is.

“Ask Photos” appears, logically, on the Search tab in the Google Photos app. A prominent “Ask” button with the Gemini logo appears alongside the search bar, above familiar faces and image categories. This is new, as Google previously showed the feature as a dedicated tab within the app, but the design was specifically stated as being “subject to change” at the time. “Ask Photos” also put up a new page where the app asks users to assign names to more people in their library.

A page, which appears different from Google’s previous depiction of the feature, asks “What would you like to see?” with example prompts or the ability to write your own question. Unfortunately, the sample prompt of “Photos of me over time” wasn’t functional, and the feature disappeared for our reader shortly afterward.

It’s still unclear when “Ask Photos” might go live, but seeing it briefly going live as a part of this “study” certainly hints that it could be relatively close. Google previously said the feature would arrive “in the coming months.”

Thanks Henry!