UPDATED 14:09 EDT / OCTOBER 25 2018

AI

Google brings its Lens AI recognition service into image searches

Google LLC wants to make image search results more useful through a newly launched integration with Lens, its artificial intelligence-powered image recognition service.

The company has been steadily adding new ways for consumers to interact with Lens since the service’s release in October 2017. Google initially offered the technology as an exclusive feature for its Pixel 2 phone, then extended support to Android devices from other manufacturers and in March rolled it out to Google Photos. That last version was the first to become accessible from iOS handsets as well.

Google is taking a slow and steady approach with this latest expansion. In the blog post today announcing the Google Images integration, product manager Assaf Broitman wrote that the embedded Lens implementation will initially focus mainly on identifying physical goods such as furniture.

The feature could make visual searches a handy tool for online shoppers. Users browsing Google Images for interior design ideas, as an example, can now select a certain piece of furniture to have Lens bring up information on where to buy it.

“All you need to do is press the Lens button, then either tap on a dot on the couch, or draw around it, and Google Images will show you related information and images,” Broitman wrote. “From there, you can learn more about it, or find places where you might be able to buy a similar couch.”

Lens is initially launching in the U.S. for the mobile web version of Google Images, where it’s accessible via a new button that shows up beneath photos. The company plans over time to expand the image recognition capability to more types of objects ranging from landmarks to plants. Google also aims to bring the embedded version of Lens to additional countries and add support for other languages besides English.

The company’s ongoing efforts to expand the reach of Lens could eventually lead it it to make the service available on desktops, too. Such a move would allow Google Images to compete more directly with Pinterest Inc., which provides a similar feature for finding products shown in photos.

Photo: Unsplash

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