Google’s AI-Powered 'Ask Photos' Makes Finding Pictures Easier

Key points

Google is testing Ask Photos through early access.

It uses Gemini AI to answer questions with related photos.

Natural language search is available for all Photos users.

Google is making it simpler to search your photo library by rolling out a new feature called Ask Photos. Using the power of Gemini AI, this tool helps users find pictures based on their queries, and it’s now available in early access for a limited group of U.S. users.

With Ask Photos, you can ask specific questions and get relevant snapshots from your collection. For example, if you want to remember what you ate during a vacation in Hawaii, the AI can pull up the photos of your meal. It can even suggest the best pictures from an event or give a summary of your trip. If the AI doesn’t nail it on the first try, you can give it more details to refine the search.

If you're interested, you can join a waitlist to try out Ask Photos. Google hasn't shared when it plans to release the feature more widely, but it’s committed to perfecting the experience before expanding access.

In the meantime, all Google Photos users are getting a natural-language search option. Instead of typing keywords, you can describe scenes in detail, like “kayaking on a lake with mountains,” and the app will show you the relevant images. You can also use proper names and sort results by date or relevance.

The updated search feature is available today for English speakers on Android and iOS, with more languages expected to follow in the coming weeks.

This launch comes just in time, as Google recently introduced its AI-powered Pixel 9 phones. Meanwhile, Apple is gearing up for its iPhone 16 event, where it may announce AI updates to its Photos app. Both companies are competing to integrate AI into their photo apps, which is great news for users trying to sort through their picture collections.