A few months after a pilot for users in the US, Google has unlocked a number of image editing options for Google Photos users in India. The Google Photos app for Android now lets users edit their photos just by asking for the changes they want to make. There are three main features that have now been rolled out, with the only criteria being the Android phone Google Photos is being used on must have at least 4GB memory and should run Android 8.0 or later versions.
Conversational editing, personalised edits, and the addition of the Nano Banana artificial intelligence (AI) layer makes it a strong troika adding to image editing options that the Photos app already has. Conversational editing will make it simpler, and save time, with users simply able to use prompts such as “make the background blurry,” or “remove the glare,” or “make the colours pop” to tweak photos in their library. This could be particularly relevant in removing reflections, removing background noise, or improving lighting in photos as well as selfies.
Personalised edits allow users to fix what Google calls “photo mishaps in group shots”, with the prime examples being “remove [name’s] sunglasses” or “make [name] smile,”. This feature will use other images from your private face groups within the Photos app as reference, to generate edits. Mileage will vary as far as detailing and accuracy of AI edits are concerned, depending on how much facial reference data personalised edits has to work with, and the structure as well as specifics of the group photo being edited.
Last but not least is the addition of the Nano Banana AI model within the Google Photos editor. “Just describe a new style and watch your vision come to life in seconds,” is how Google describes it. Think of this as a generative AI layer for your photo editing suite, the same way as prompt based generation would have worked with a reference image in the Gemini app.
Google confirms they are adding support for C2PA Content Credentials in Google Photos, which attaches a permanent digital label showing a modified image’s origin and edit history, to distinguish AI generations from real images. Alongside India, Australia and Japan are also getting the new editing smarts within Google Photos. It was late last year when Google rolled out these as part of the test phase, for Pixel 10 phone users in the US. The shift from editing sliders to conversational prompts may well find traction, considering Android and Google Photos’ mammoth user base.
Earlier this week, Google announced a photo to video feature for Google Photos, which can seam together your favourite pictures into dynamic short videos. There are also text prompts for video generation.
