Google tests its ‘Ask Photos’ AI assistant that understands what’s in your pictures

Google is testing its new "Ask Photos" feature that lets you explore your library of pictures in new ways. The feature, which Google first previewed in May, is rolling out to select Google Labs users in the US and will let you ask things like, "Where did we camp last time we went to Yosemite?" or "What did we eat at the hotel in Stanley?"

Using Google's Gemini AI models, the Photos app will then offer a response based on the content in your photos, as well as pull up images relevant to your question.

Google says you can even use Ask Photos to complete tasks, such as summarizing things you did on a recent vacation or choosing the best pictures of your family to put in a shared album. You can sign up for the waitlist to access Ask Photos on Google's website.

When using Ask Photos, Google will let you switch to what it now calls "classic search" - or the current way of finding images. But Google is giving this an upgrade, too, as you can now search for pictures using natural language, such as "Alice and me laughing" or "Kayaking on a lake surrounded by mountains." You can then sort your search results by date or relevance. This feature is rolling out in English on Android and iOS, with more support for more languages arriving in the "coming weeks."

In preparation for this change, Google Photos replaced the Library tab with a new Collection page that's supposed to make it easier to find all your photos and videos. While I haven't really had time to explore the new tab, I'll definitely be taking advantage of the natural language search so I can finally find specific images without having to scroll through thousands of images or narrow them down by location.