What is happening on the Photos team? I know a lot of the core team has left already, but lately it really seems like they are cramming in AI functionality in a way that does not consider the whole experience and it truly feels bolted-on. First they tried to mess with regular search and had to leave in a setting for people to go out of their way to disable it.
Google Photos used to be one of my most favorite apps. Now it's some testing playground. I'm sure some new startup is approaching this area so the cycle can repeat.
For real, even Lowes is doing this crap. I tried looking up a some products on their website with my phone the other day and every product page is now partially obscured by a useless AI widget that can't be removed. They've made their product categorically worse just to check the AI box.
Remember when FB really took off, and places like Lowes tried to make their site be a "social hub" too? Like you'd add your friends there and follow their shoppings or whatever
> but lately it really seems like they are cramming in AI functionality in a way that does not consider the whole experience and it truly feels bolted-on.
I feel that everywhere, not just Google. Windows is probably one of the most egregious with copilot being jammed into every app.
None of this "AI" stuff feels integrated or even thought out at all. The whole thing is just bolted on and it feels like the only reason is so they can say "see, we have AI too! Now give us money" to investors.
And they took away the one editing feature I use the most -- the perspective correction tool. I take a lot of photos of documents, and to avoid shadows I often can't take the photo from above, so used to use the perspective tool to square up the document.
I use zero of the new AI tools, but they took away the one tool I really want.
They claim they'll bring it back...sometime.
"Perspective tools – Our team is working to restore these"
Lately they also shrunk the image preview, now it's like 60% of the phone screen estate - good look hunting for details while editing. I don't think, change my mind, that they care about real users feedback.
Managers on AI projects need to show "mass adoption" in order to survive the next annual review. That's why you have pointless AI stuffed into every orifice of Google/YouTube.
This is all of Google ever since the "Red Alert" when ChatGPT came on the scene. It just took a glacial 3 years for it to come to fruition like everything at Google.
Google Photos used to be one of my most favorite apps. Now it's some testing playground. I'm sure some new startup is approaching this area so the cycle can repeat.