Summary
- Google paused ‘Ask Photos’ rollout due to latency, quality, and UX issues.
- Conversational search powered by Gemini AI faced bumps along the way.
- Improved ‘Ask Photos’ version expected to ship in two weeks.
AI is currently being jammed into everything, but there are some places where it makes more sense than others. Google was testing a feature in Google Photos that used AI to magically find any picture with a simple question. However, Google hit the pause button on its “Ask Photos” rollout.
It turns out that even with the power of Gemini AI, launching a tool that understands your massive photo library isn’t as simple as Google hoped. Jamie Aspinall, a product manager for Google Photos, took to the site formerly known as Twitter to explain the sudden halt. He said the Ask Photos feature isn’t quite where it needs to be in terms of “latency, quality, and UX.” Basically, it’s not fast enough, the results aren’t always spot-on, and the overall experience isn’t smooth.
Ask Photos was first touted as a game-changer back at last year’s Google I/O, and it eventually started rolling out a few months later. The idea was that you could ask natural questions, such as, “Show me the best photos from my trip to Traverse City,” which requires location awareness and some “judgement.” Or something like, “What did we eat on our trip to Detroit?” and it would pull up photos you took of food. This conversational search, powered by Gemini, was supposed to make finding those moments effortless.
But, as with many AI features we’re seeing these days, there were some bumps along the way. A complaint from a long-time Google Photos user is what prompted Aspinall’s response. The user said they found the AI search to be much slower and with “less obvious benefits” than the traditional search. Another user mentioned it can be disabled, which is true. Go to Photo settings > Preferences > Gemini features in Photos and turn off “Search with Ask Photos” to do so.
If you did happen to like the feature, this isn’t a permanent farewell. Aspinall stated that the rollout was paused “at very small numbers” and that an improved version of Ask Photos is expected to ship in about two weeks. So, while you’ll have to wait a little longer to truly converse with your photo library, it sounds like Google is committed to getting it right. Hopefully, the next iteration will live up to the promises made last year.
Source: Engadget
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