Google Photos' New AI -Powered Search Feature Could Save You from Scrolling Forever

If you know the correct term, it is now a lot easier to find a certain picture in your messy camera roll. Google Photos is getting a smarter search upgrade that allows users to search for exact words in pictures. This might be the best time-saver Google has sent out this year. 

You may find the exact word you are looking for in your photographs by putting it in quotes. Google Photos will look for that word, not a vibe or a guess, but a specific text match.  Think of receipts, scans of your passport, pictures of your whiteboard, and even that napkin you wrote a great idea on.  Now, when you search for "menu," you'll only get pictures that have the word "menu" in them. Previously, you had to look through a lot of food pictures. 

AI Makes Search Smarter 

Google Photos has been able to read text in photographs for a long time using optical character recognition (OCR), but its keyword matching has been hit or miss until now.  This new feature makes the tool efficient, providing users a method to sift through the noise, especially in albums full of screenshots and scanned documents. Pay attention that this update is being sent out in stages, so not everyone will see it immediately.  Google says the update is on its way and may soon hit your device in case you haven’t received it yet. 

“When you put your search term in quotation marks, you’ll find exact text matches in filenames, camera models, captions, or text within photos.  Without quotation marks, the results will include not just text matches but also visual matches. Learn more about search in the Photos,” Google informed via blog post. 

What It's Good For and What It Doesn't Do Well 

When you're looking for anything very particular, like a movie ticket with the word "singham," a school project with the word "biology," or your kid's school bag packing list, this function works best. It is also a great way to get more done if you use Google Photos as a digital filing cabinet. But it's not 100 per cent accurate. The algorithm might not see the word if it is in a strange typeface, is partially hidden, or is just plain messy.  And even if the AI behind it is strong, it's still a work in progress, especially when it comes to reading text in languages that are not very prevalent. 

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