Google is planning to release AI features on its product portfolio and apps. In its annual developers conference, I/O 2024, the giant technology corporation announced a wide range of features to improve the efficiency of its apps, which includes Google Photos, Workspace, Docs, and many more. One of the most exciting features among these is “Ask Photos” which is specially designed for Google Photos.
The purpose of introducing AI features is to provide a better experience to the users by engaging with the photos stored in their photo collections. This feature is supported by Google’s advanced AI model which aims to increase user’s effectiveness and engagement with their photo collections. According to Google, with the rollout of this latest experimental feature, it will become even easier to search for a specific memory or recall information saved in their photo gallery.
Here's a full recap of our news and updates from #GoogleIO — in under 10 minutes 🎉 pic.twitter.com/O2B8QPsNTg
— Google (@Google) May 15, 2024Google reveals that more than 6 billion photos are uploaded per day by its users to Google Photos. For the purpose of improving user experience, Google already launched a variety of AI photography features in the past, including Magic Editor. Nevertheless, with the growing photo galleries, it often becomes difficult for people to search for a specific photo they have saved previously in their photo gallery.
Therefore, they have to scroll multiple pages of photos and videos to find out their required content even after applying the right combination of keywords. In order to navigate this common challenge of the users in searching photos, Google has decided to introduce “Ask Photos,” which will allow the users to avoid extensive scrolling by simply asking what they are looking for, such as “Show me the best photo from each national park I’ve visited.” Then Google Photo can present the relevant images as per the user’s requirements, enabling them to save time from scrolling.
How “Ask Photos” functions
The Ask Photos feature takes assistance from Gemini’s multimodal capabilities to understand the complex queries of the users and develop a plan to identify the answer. On behalf of the users, it leverages a sophisticated search not only to identify the relevant keywords, including people, places, and dates but also to find out the natural language concepts such as “themed birthday party.”
Gemini’s multimodal capabilities are not only able to understand the context behind a photo but also capable of reading the texts present in the image if required. After a thorough analysis with the help of AI, Ask Photos assistance selects the most relevant photos and videos to provide a response to the search query. Furthermore, Google also says that “Ask Photos” is experimental; therefore, it might not provide correct answers each time. However, in this case, if the user corrects the answer or provides additional information, then Ask Photos can store these details for further interactions, aiming to improve the accuracy of the results.
Nevertheless, with this AI feature, users may have concerns regarding their privacy. In this regard, Google ensures that the company is highly responsible for protecting its personal data. User’s personal information will never be used for the purpose of advertisements and will be safeguarded with industry-leading security measures. The expert team will not also review the personal data and conversations in Ask Photos, excluding in some rare cases for addressing harm or abuse.
Any generative AI product outside of Google Photos, including Gemini models and products, will not be trained by the company on the user’s personal data to ensure privacy. In the context of its availability, Google says that “Ask Photos” will start rolling out soon along with the additional capabilities to further improve the functionality of the feature.
