Google Pauses Rollout of AI-Powered Ask Photos Feature

Google has announced a pause in the rollout of its AI-powered “Ask Photos” feature within Google Photos, which has been gradually expanding since last fall. Jamie Aspinall, a product manager for Google Photos, stated in a post post on X that the feature “isn’t where it needs to be,” citing three primary concerns: latency, quality, and user experience.

The experimental feature utilizes Google’s “most capable” Gemini AI models. Specifically, it employs a specialized version of these models that are designed exclusively for the Ask Photos functionality, according to Google.

Aspinall mentioned that the rollout has been paused “at very small numbers while we address these issues,” and indicated that a revised version of the feature would be released in approximately two weeks. This update aims to restore the speed and recall of the original search functionality.

In conjunction with this pause, Google has also announced improvements to keyword search within Photos. Users can now utilize quotes to find exact text matches within filenames, camera models, captions, or text embedded in photos. Additionally, searching without quotes will include visual matches as well also announced Tuesday.

The Ask Photos feature was initially introduced by Google last May at I/O 2024, designed to allow users to query their Photos app for common-sense questions that typically require human assistance. For example, users could inquire about themes chosen for past birthday parties or national parks they have visited.

According to the company, “Gemini’s multimodal capabilities can help understand exactly what’s happening in each photo and can even read text in the image if required.” The Ask Photos feature then generates a helpful response and selects relevant photos and videos to display.

This is not the first instance of Google pausing the rollout of an AI-powered feature. The company is navigating a rapidly evolving AI landscape, competing against other tech giants and startups.

In May of the previous year, shortly after launching the “AI Overview” feature in Google Search, Google paused its rollout due to the emergence of nonsensical and inaccurate answers that went viral on social media. Notable examples included the feature incorrectly identifying Barack Obama as the first Muslim president of the United States and suggesting users put glue on pizza keep the cheese on.

Furthermore, in February, Google introduced Gemini’s image-generation tool with significant fanfare, only to paused the feature that same month after users reported historical inaccuracies, such as an AI-generated image depicting the U.S. Founding Fathers as individuals of color.