Major developments in the Google search engine have become rare. The giant is usually quite adaptive. This time, Google unveils a new way of doing research.
Since its inception, google has established itself as the default search engine for the vast majority of internet users around the world. Initially textual, this search has evolved with other modalities: search by voice with Google Assistant, or in image with Google Lens. Very regularly, the company also changes its algorithms to try to make the engine more and more relevant in its responses.
However, it is rare for Google to offer a major evolution of its engine with new methods. The company is going even further this time with a new promising multimodal search mode.
Combine image and text search
Google is therefore announcing a new way of searching the Google app on Android and iOS† It now allows Google Lens to perform a search based on a photo we already knew, and then add text to it to clarify your idea. Google gives the idea of a photo of a dress, of which we would like to find similar models on the Internet. The search is then refined by adding the color “green”.
The bike can then combine the two criteria and find a model that resembles the photographed dress, but in green. Obviously the example here is relatively simple and makes it easy to understand the kind of query Google allows, but we can imagine the complexity of the task of understanding the query. Google gives other examples: add “tableto the photo of a living room to specifically search for the table model, or “care advicewith a houseplant photo for recommendations.
To perform these rather complex ideas linking tasks, Google announces that it is using its latest AI algorithms. The company mainly needs it to understand the context and the natural language of the users.
For now, this new search mode is limited to English and the United States. Google also indicates that it is a beta.
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