Google Search gets creative: Google introduces AI image generator

Lately, Google has been focusing on AI and integrating it into its products. Just check out the latest Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro: Packed with AI-powered features. It’s now Google Search’s turn to get a boost with updates driven, once again, by artificial intelligence.

Google experiments with ways to improve your research experience, like creating images to bring your ideas to life or getting help writing a draft. The tech giant is rolling out the ability to generate images and written drafts using an AI-powered generative search experience (GES).

Have you ever struggled to find the perfect image in your mind? The new EMS is designed to do just that. Google’s example involves a capybara. Here’s the rundown: Let’s say you want to create a card for a friend who loves cooking and loves capybaras. You are looking for something like “draw a capybara wearing a chef’s hat and preparing breakfast,” and voilà! SGE gives you up to four generated images in the results.

When you tap on one of these images, you’ll see how the generative AI fleshed out your initial query with descriptive details, like “a photorealistic image of a capybara wearing a chef’s hat and preparing breakfast in a forest, grilling bacon.” You can then edit the description for even more details. This new feature works similarly to existing AI image generators such as DALL-E, Stable Diffusion and MidJourney.

As AI opens up exciting possibilities, Google strives to be mindful of responsible use. Safeguards are built in to block the creation of images that violate the Generative AI Prohibited Use Policy, including harmful or misleading content.

Each image generated through SGE will have metadata labeling and an embedded watermark to show that it was created by AI. TikTok has already done this, and Meta also wants to start tagging AI content to help users identify AI-generated content.

The new Google Search image generation feature is currently only available in English in the United States to users 18 years or older who have participated in the SGE experience.

But that’s not all, since Google is also introducing written drafts to SGE. When you search for a project or topic in Google Search, you are often looking for ideas and inspiration for writing. With SGE, you can shorten your draft or change the tone to be more casual.

In its blog post, Google also reveals an upcoming tool called “About This Image” to help you assess the context and credibility of images. For example, it can show you when a similar version of an image was first seen by Google or show other web pages using a similar image, including news or fact-checking sites.