Alphabet Inc’s Google announced on Wednesday that a new search feature is coming soon that will emphasize images rather than text and could greatly expand Google’s role in e-commerce and online video.
Google had announced in May that advances in artificial intelligence software would allow searchers to mix photos and text to find what they are looking for. In its livestreamed Search On conference on Wednesday, Google said those promised features would arrive soon through its Google Lens search tool.
The new capability will allow to tap on the Lens icon to find another article of clothing that has the same pattern. For example, one can search for socks that has the same pattern as that of a shirt, according to Google Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan. This can be helpful when searching for something that might be hard to describe accurately with just words.
Videos can also be sorted, including those that are posted to Google’s YouTube, already the largest video streaming service online.
Reverse-image searches will be available on both the Google iOS app and the Google Chrome desktop browser. Choosing an image will pull up similar online visuals, which could help shoppers find where to buy items seen in photos and ultimately lead them to Google Shopping, Amazon’s competitor.
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