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Following Google’s temporary pause of the rollout of its glitchy AI-driven Google Ask Photosfeature in Google Photos, the company has now resumed deployment. This is in connection with the improvements made to support the speed at which the feature returns search results.
Recall that Google initially introduced this during last year’s Google I/O developer conference. It’s noteworthy that Google Ask Photos lets users search through their entire photo library using natural language. In addition, this works by understanding the content of images. It also has to do with understanding captions or file names.
Tapping into Google’s Gemini technology activates a feature that aims to provide innovative and relevant photo suggestions, even for specific queries.
Google Ask Photos: User Complaints Prompt Rollout Pause and Fixes
Nevertheless, the experience was rough at launch. Many users complained that the feature was sluggish and inconsistent. In certain instances, results took more extended periods before they appeared while the system was still “thinking.” Unfortunately, these early frustrations led Google to pause the wider rollout.
In reaction, Jamie Aspinall, a product manager for Google Photos, addressed the concerns on X earlier this month. He admitted that Photos feature was falling short in terms of speed, quality, and user experience. Jamie further assured users that the team had taken their interests into consideration and was already working on improvements. He added that the pause would last a few weeks, allotting time to Google to restore the original speed and reliability of classic photo search.
New AI Integration Enhances Photo Search
Last week, Google published a blog post announcing that Google Ask Photos is now blending the best parts of the old Photos search. This development follows the introduction of its new AI-driven model.
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Practically put, if you search for broad terms like “beach” or “dogs,” you are going to see results from classic search now appear almost instantly. At the same time, the AI continues analyzing an array of details in the background.
For more context, when you’re in “white dog, ” you tend first to see general results. ” Subsequently, there will be more personalized ones that will possibly identify your pet by name you labelled it. The AI might also tell you when your dog first appeared in your photo collection.
Interestingly, you can still switch back to the traditional search mode if you prefer its simplicity.
Following these updates, the company has continued to release Google Photos to more users in the United States. You must be 18 years or older to access this feature. Additionally, you need to set your account language to English and enable Face Groups, which is Google’s tool for recognizing and labelling the faces of people and pets in your photos.
