Google backtracks on AI search in Photos, adds toggle for “fast classic search”

In a notable shift, Google has acknowledged user dissatisfaction with the AI-driven changes to its Photos search functionality and is reintroducing a classic search option. Over the past few years, the tech giant has aggressively integrated its Gemini AI models across various features, but this approach has not resonated well with many users. The head of Google Photos, Shimrit Ben-Yair, revealed that the company has been actively listening to feedback regarding the new search experience. As a result, a toggle will soon be implemented, allowing users to switch back to the familiar non-Gemini search system. This decision comes after a challenging rollout of the AI-enhanced Ask Photos feature, which has faced significant criticism. For those who have been using Google Photos since its inception, the original search experience represented a groundbreaking leap from manually scrolling through timelines to effortlessly finding images by simply typing in descriptions. However, the recent introduction of Ask Photos, which was launched in beta in 2024, has not lived up to expectations. Although designed to enhance responses to natural language queries, users have found it to be considerably slower and more error-prone than the previous system. Following a barrage of negative feedback, Google was compelled to halt the full rollout of Ask Photos in the summer of 2025 to implement necessary improvements, though concerns still linger about its effectiveness.