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ZDNET's key takeaways
- Google Images is getting two new features over the coming weeks.
- You'll be able to create your own images if you can't find the right one.
- The site will update images in real time and help you view your saved images.
Google Images is a handy visual search engine that helps you track down photos and other images across the web. Now celebrating its 25th birthday, the site can come in handy if you need an image for a presentation, report, newsletter, business card, web page, or other content.
But sometimes you may not be able to find the right image. In that case, Google will let you create your own.
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AI image generation is soon expanding to Google Images. When a search for an image doesn't deliver the results you desire, your search term can transform into a text prompt. From there, Google will use its latest Nano Banana model to conjure up the kind of image you want. The image creation occurs directly inside the AI Overviews window, so you don't even need to leave your existing search.
"Sometimes, the perfect image is out there on the web, waiting to be found," Google said in a Tuesday blog post. "But other times, you might have a highly specific vision where an image doesn't yet exist. To help bring those unique ideas to life, we're bringing image generation directly into AI Overviews in Search."
Google Images gets a makeover, too #
The new image generation in AI Overviews will roll out in English over the coming weeks, promises Google. Any region that currently supports image creation in AI mode will be able to do likewise in AI Overviews.
And there's more.
Google Images itself is getting a makeover. The page's gallery of images will be more dynamic, meaning the images displayed will be updated in real time and tailored to your specific interests.
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As you browse the resulting images, you'll be able to save the ones you like to a collection as always. But now your collections will appear as tabs above the main gallery. You'll then be able to jump back and forth more easily between your saved images and your ongoing search.
This makeover will roll out over the coming weeks to Google Images on the desktop in the US in English. At that point, you'll just need to sign in with your Google account to try it.