Google’s new AI tool allows photographers to be included in group photos

Got photo FOMO? There is a fix for this.

On Tuesday, Google announced a new, AI-powered tool on the company’s upcoming Pixel 9 smartphones that will let users add themselves to a photo — no Photoshop required.

The feature, called the “Add Me” function, allows the photographer of a group photo to be added later by first shooting the group photo and then posing alone in the same scene.

Google’s feature then overlays both photos to create a seamless image as if they were all captured in the same frame at the same time.

“Usually it’s a specific photographer that gets left out of group photos,” Google said in a statement.

“With Add Me you’ll get a photo with everyone who was there – including the photographer – without having to pack a tripod or ask a stranger for help.”

The AI ​​features in the new $799 Google Pixel edition, which rivals that of Apple’s new iPhones, will also integrate Gemini, Google’s chatbot, and allow conversations between users and AI software.

“There’s been so much promise, so much coming soon, and not enough real-world help when it comes to AI, so today we’re getting real,” Rick Osterloh, the company’s senior vice president of devices and services. said on Tuesday. “We are fully in the Age of Gemini.”

The AI ​​push comes after Google introduced the technology in its Gmail app as well as Gemini in its search engine earlier this year, with AI-generated summaries based on search queries appearing at the top of results. The feature, however, came with some drawbacks, such as showing misleading or strange answers to users’ questions.

Critics have slammed Google for being late to the AI ​​race, despite recent innovations. The company’s former CEO Eric Schmidt blamed the company’s “work from home” policies as the reason for its pitfalls.

“Google decided that work-life balance and coming home early and working from home was more important than winning,” he said this week while speaking to Stanford University students.

He added: “And the reason startups work is because people work like hell.”