If you want to go back to the standard search experience in Google Photos, you can tap “Switch to classic search.” But you don’t have to. I just wanted to find some photos of myself, so I started typing my name into Ask Photos and it quickly brought me to a collection of all the photos of me in my library—no Gemini processing required. If you’ve named most of the people and pets that regularly appear in your library, you won’t have to wait for Ask Photos to process the request just to see photos of them.
Photography: Julian Chokkattu via Google Photos
That said, I asked Yael Marzan, Google Photos’ product manager, if Ask Photos would eventually completely replace the traditional search feature, and here’s what she had to say: “We believe Ask Photos is a better way to search, but we need to go slowly and responsibly and scale it in a way that makes sense.”
The Ask Photos rollout is much more limited. It’s a Google Labs feature, which indicates it’s experimental and only select users in the US will be able to see the experience starting today. It’s a waiting list If you’re looking to apply for early access, Marzan says the Photos team is leaning heavily on user feedback to improve the experience. She says that because this is generative AI technology, there are more risks, and the reason for this cautious rollout is to see how people use Ask Photos and make sure it provides “safe, accurate, and non-offensive answers.”
It’s worth noting that Google’s blog post about the new feature states that queries can be reviewed by humans to improve Ask Photos, “but only after you sign out of your Google account to protect your privacy.” Results aren’t reviewed by humans unless you provide feedback, “or in rare cases to address abuse or harm.”