Google has been showering us with new AI features all throughout the year. While some of them have dropped the ball hard, others boost the Google experience. Today, Google is pushing some new AI features to both Android and iOS.
What new AI features is Google launching?
Some of these features augment the Google Lens experience. Lens has come a long way since its launch back in 2017. While it’s been improving over the years, things really took off when Google introduced it to Gemini. One of the new features coming to Lens was rumored previously. You can now ask questions in Lens using a video.
Open Lens, point your camera a what you want to ask a question about, and hold your finger down on the capture button. This will start recording a video. While the video is recording, you can ask the question. For example, you can point your phone at the aurora borealis and ask “Why does this happen” while it’s recording. You’ll then get an AI Overview of your answer. Along with the overview, you’ll also see typical Google results.
This is coming to the Google app in both Android and iOS.
Shopping
This next feature will help out all of the shopaholics out there. Before, when you’d take a picture of an item, it would surface visually similar images. However, after the update, Google will show you information about the item like the price, reviews, ratings, and where to buy it. This makes it so much easier to buy the items that you see in the real world.
Identifying music/Circle to Search expansion
A new update to Circle to Search will make it so much easier to identify the music that’s playing in your environment. If you hear some music that you want to identify, just summon Gemini. It will then identify the music and surface the results. This makes it easier to identify music without needing to leave the app that you’re using.
As a bonus, Google announced that Circle to Search is now making it to more devices. It’s coming to 150 million Android devices.
Organized search page
There are searches that don’t have a definitive answer. Google gave the example of “Vegetarian appetizers for a party.” This week, the company is rolling out search results pages organized with AI. It’s starting off with food-related results.
You’ll see carousels of suggestions for meals that you can prepare. Each item will have information like the rating and a source link.
Ads in AI Overviews
Lastly, Google is bringing sponsored results to AI Overviews. When you do a search, you’ll see links to relevant sites. The company says that this has been positively received, so more people will see this feature as time goes on.
