Google Photos has started rolling out its AI-based feature called “Ask Photos,” following the opening of a waitlist for the service last month. First available to select users in the US, the service is supposed to permit natural language interactions with photo libraries, meaning users could request Halloween costumes from years ago or when their child learned to swim.
After the waitlist launch on early September, Google now opens up the feature for an expanded user base. Over the last few weeks, in very limited reports, lately, the feature has started coming in more easily, and a lot of users have seen it live on their devices.
It is possible to enable Ask Photos, which takes the place of the traditional “Search” tab in the Google Photos app, available for Android and iOS operating systems. The old search functionality is still there to use, but only after going through Ask Photos on queries.
On availability, it introduces the review process among the users concerning the feature’s functionality, which involves the data being accessed. The users will have relationships that must be confirmed for people and pets, according to the number of times they appear in the photo library.
Preliminary testing reveals the new Ask Photos feature excels at finding photos about people and locations. It can even bring up some relevant photos of recent boat outings when it was asked about colleagues, for example, but returned a few random images from 2013 on moving day.
This feature appears to rely on geolocation data to even further filter results so that the feature is better suited at identifying an event or activity. At the same time, user experiences could be different.
Ask Photos is still not live for everyone, though those who just signed up for the waitlist should get it soon.