Ask Photos is Google’s new AI feature for Google Photos

At Google’s annual I/O conference, the tech giant announced a more powerful AI-based search experience within Google Photos.

People upload 6 billion photos and videos to the platform every day, and now they’ll be able to search for those elements more efficiently using not just keywords but phrases.

CEO Sundar Pichai gave one example: “Say you’re at a parking station ready to pay,” he told the audience, “but you can’t recall your license plate number.” Now you can ask Google Photos something like, “What’s my license plate number again?”

It’s unclear how Gemini will know to bring up your license plate number instead of all photos with a license plate in them, but Pichai says Gemini does.

Another example was reminiscing on family memories. Ask Google Photos, “When did Lucia learn to swim?” for example, says Pichai, and “Gemini goes beyond a simple search, recognizing different contexts from doing laps in the pool to snorkeling in the ocean to the text and dates on our swimming certificates.” Then it packages those photos and videos together for you.