Following user complaints about slow speeds and a bad user experience, Google halted the distribution of its experimental “Ask Photos” feature in Google Photos, a Google Photos product manager said.
Google Photos’ product manager Jamie Aspinall announced the halt on X Tuesday, pointing to three main problems: user experience, quality, and latency. “Ask Photos isn’t where it needs to be,” In response to user complaints over the AI-powered search engine, Aspinall wrote.
The feature, which uses Google’s Gemini AI models to let users search their photo libraries with natural language queries, has been rolling out to a limited number of users since October 2024. Users can ask questions like “Show me the best photo from each national park I’ve visited” or “What themes have we had for birthday parties?”
Early users did, however, disclose serious issues. In comparison to Google photographs’ conventional keyword search, the function was incredibly sluggish, frequently missed pertinent photographs, and offered a worse experience. According to several users, the AI search made “Google Photos worse” overall.
The deployment has been halted “at very small numbers” while Google resolves these problems, according to Aspinall. In around two weeks, the business anticipates shipping an enhanced version that “brings back the speed and recall of the original search.”
At its I/O developer conference in May 2024, Google first revealed Ask Photos, presenting it as a significant update that will facilitate the discovery of certain memories. Using Gemini’s multimodal capabilities, the feature was created to comprehend subjects and context in photographs, including reading text inside them.
Google has previously paused AI features. In the past, the corporation discontinued Gemini’s picture production tool because of historical flaws and AI Overviews in Search because of viral errors.
Ask Photos may be turned off by users who are already allowed to use it in the app’s settings under “Gemini features in Google Photos.”
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