Google Search bar now enables direct AI image generation for opt-in users

Google is introducing a feature that allows users to generate AI images directly from the standard Google Search bar, provided they opt-in for its Search Generative Experience (SGE).

With this feature, users can input a description of what they're looking for, and Google's Imagen text-to-picture AI will generate four alternatives for them to choose from and refine. These generated images can also be exported to Google Drive or downloaded.

Google's vision for SGE aims to provide coherent responses to natural language prompts, synthesizing information from the web rather than presenting links to websites. While this feature is expanding Google's capabilities, there are some limitations.

It is available only within the United States, in English-language applications, and for users over the age of 18. Google will also discourage the creation of photorealistic images of human faces and images of "famous" people to prevent potential abuse.

The company is also implementing the SynthID system, developed by DeepMind, to watermark generated images and provide metadata on their origin.

These new image generation functions will be accessible through the Labs tab in the Google app on iOS and Android, as well as on Chrome desktop for select users, with further expansion planned in the coming weeks.