Google Images Marks Its 25 Birthday by Adding AI Image Generation

Google Images marks its 25th anniversary by adding AI image generation, allowing users to create images from text prompts when no suitable web image exists. The feature uses Google's Nano Banana model and will be available alongside AI Mode. A redesigned homepage with a personalized, real-time gallery is also rolling out in the US.

Google Images just hit the quarter-century mark, and Google is observing the birthday of its picture-finding tool by adding an AI /try-ai-serie feature to generate the image you have in mind if it can’t locate one on the web. “Sometimes, the perfect image is out there on the web, waiting to be found,” Google says. “But other times you might have a highly specific vision where an image doesn’t yet exist.” This feature lets you start with a plain-English prompt and runs on Google’s Nano Banana image-generation model /ai/163426/google-rolls-out-nano-banana-2-borrows-2-notable-features-from-pro-model . It should be available soon enough, wherever you can already use Google’s AI Mode /ai/162734/googles-ai-mode-can-now-tap-photos-and-gmail-for-personalized-responses to create an image. In addition to elevating AI image generation /ai/162243/the-best-ai-image-generators-for-2026 , Google Images is rolling out a new homepage design featuring what its post calls “a dynamic, immersive gallery of images from across the web—updated in real time and intelligently tailored to your unique interests.” That description evokes the personalized gallery of images /social-media/143334/annoyed-with-instagram-take-control-of-your-feed-with-these-tips-and-tricks Instagram shows when you tap its search button but haven’t typed anything; if the new Google Images shows me a gallery that’s at least 75% airplanes /connected-traveler-serie , I’ll know its algorithm is operating in ways similar to Meta’s. You’ll also be able to save images presented in this gallery to collections you can come back to later on, which reads more than a bit like Pinterest /productivity/152298/forgot-about-pinterest-its-surprisingly-good-for-these-5-things . Google says these gallery features will start showing up in desktop browsers in the US set to English “over the coming weeks.” The company’s post https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/google-images-25th-anniversary/ lauding its image-search tool’s silver anniversary also throws in a brief recap of its history. That began in July 2001, when Google added an image-search feature in beta, of course after seeing so many searches https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49780020 for a certain green Versace dress that Jennifer Lopez wore to the 2000 Grammy Awards. Since then, Google Images has added such features as the ability to conduct a reverse image search /smartphones/12875/how-to-do-a-reverse-image-search-from-your-phone to discern the origin of a picture you’ve found, work through your phone’s camera via Google Lens /gallery/118589/how-to-peek-inside-your-photos-with-google-lens , search for part of a web page or image with Circle to Search /ai/152517/how-to-use-googles-circle-to-search-ai-feature-to-quickly-look-up-text-images , and apply any of an increasing variety of AI search tools /ai/165078/google-io-biggest-search-upgrade-in-25-years-how-ai-will-change-results to pin down the picture you want. Google’s recap of its image search tool’s history does not, however, reveal an exact birthday. But Googling for “Google ‘Image Search’ beta” and limiting results /software-services/138320/21-google-search-tips-youll-want-to-learn to those published before July 31, 2001, located a July 12, 2001, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/12/technology/news-watch-a-quick-way-to-search-for-images-on-the-web.html New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/12/technology/news-watch-a-quick-way-to-search-for-images-on-the-web.html report https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/12/technology/news-watch-a-quick-way-to-search-for-images-on-the-web.html about the new feature. “The service is still in beta while Google hones the technology, but Image Search does an impressive job with some requests,” the NYT’s Andrew Zipern wrote at the time, adding a parenthetical reference to a once-promising search competitor /internet-3/14353/yahoo-bids-farewell-to-vintage-search-engine-altavista : “Altavista offers a similar service.”