Google adds image-generating capabilities to Search Generative Experience

Ever since ChatGPT’s debut, the world of artificial intelligence (AI) has witnessed rapid developments. The world’s biggest tech companies such as Google and Microsoft have launched their own AI chatbots, while this technology has also been integrated into various services such as Adobe Photoshop, Canva, and even in simple web browsing. A few weeks ago, Google brought generative AI search to Search Generative Experience (SGE), providing a quick way to search and get results. Now, Google has announced that it is bringing the ability to create images with generative AI-powered SGE.

In a blog post, Google announced that with the new SGE, users can simply enter prompts such as “draw a picture of a capybara wearing a chef’s hat and cooking breakfast”, and SGE will provide up to four AI-generated images. Tapping on the image will provide a description of what Google has generated. You can add descriptions to further tweak the image or make it more detailed.

Google announced, “Maybe you want to see the capybara chef making hash browns instead, or you want to add a light blue background with clouds. That’s an easy change!”

You can try these features by opting into the Search Generative Experience in Search Labs. After doing so, you may see an option to create AI-generated images directly in Google Images.

In the last few months, there have been controversies over AI-generated images. To counter that, Google has announced that every AI-generated image will have metadata labeling and embedded watermarking to indicate that it was created by AI.

Who can access this SGE feature?

Google has announced that the image generation capability is only available in English in the United States, to people who opted into the SGE experiment and who are 18 years or older.

Google’s About the image feature

Google is also planning to roll out a new ‘About this image’ feature that will help people easily assess the context and credibility of images. It will feature details such as when the image and similar images were first indexed by Google, where it may have first appeared, and where else it has been seen online.