MUMBAI: Picture this: Google Images is no longer waiting for you to search, it now wants to show you what you might want to see next. As Google Images celebrates its 25th anniversary, the tech giant is overhauling its visual search experience with a personalised discovery feed and AI-generated images embedded directly into Google Search.
The twin updates mark Google’s latest push to make Search more visual, personalised and AI-driven, as competition intensifies among technology companies racing to redefine how users discover and interact with information.
The biggest change is a redesigned Google Images homepage that shifts away from the traditional search-first interface. Instead, signed-in users will be greeted by a continuously refreshing feed of images sourced from across the web, curated using their interests and browsing activity.
Google is also introducing Collections, allowing users to organise saved images into dedicated tabs for themes such as travel, fashion, recipes or home décor, making it easier to revisit ideas without starting a new search.
The revamped Google Images experience will initially roll out to desktop users in the US who are signed into their Google accounts and using the service in English.
Alongside the redesign, Google is bringing AI-powered image creation directly into AI Overviews within Search. Powered by the company’s latest Nano Banana image-generation model, the feature will allow users to generate original visuals simply by typing descriptive prompts.
Rather than searching only for images that already exist online, users will be able to create customised visuals for concepts they want to explore, compare room layouts, experiment with colour palettes or visualise ideas that may not yet have a web presence.
According to Google, the feature is designed to make Search a more interactive creative tool, helping users move from finding information to generating entirely new visual content within the same experience.
AI image generation inside AI Overviews will begin rolling out in English over the coming weeks across all regions where Google’s image-generation capabilities in AI Mode are already available.
The updates underscore Google’s broader strategy of weaving generative AI deeper into its core products. As Search evolves from a gateway to information into a platform for creation and discovery, Google is betting that the next chapter of visual search will be driven as much by imagination as by indexed images.
