With Google smartphones, it’s no longer necessary to have an outstretched arm to get everyone in a group photo.
Instead, users can now take a photo behind the camera and easily add themselves using AI.
It’s one of several powerful AI tools Google announced Tuesday for its latest Pixel 9 smartphone lineup.
To use the new Add Me tool, users must first choose someone to take the group photo.
They then pass the phone to another group member, who takes a second photo of the same scene, this time with themselves in it.
Google smartphones no longer require an outstretched arm to get everyone in a group photo
Google’s AI then overlays the two photos and stitches them together, making it appear as if everyone is in the photo.
“There is usually one designated photographer who is missing from group photos,” Google said at its Made By Google event in California.
‘With Add Me, you get a photo with everyone who was there, including the photographer, without having to carry a tripod or ask a stranger for help.’
Google is increasingly using AI to help users edit photos. One example is the Magic Eraser tool it introduced last year, which allows users to instantly remove people and objects from photos.
Another feature, Best Take, lets users mix and match people’s facial expressions in group photos, such as if they’re blinking or not smiling.
On Tuesday, Google unveiled four new Pixl smartphones (pictured is the Pixel 9) and announced that it would “continue to integrate AI into everything we do”
As AI-generated images fuel disinformation in recent years, concerns have been raised that the new tools could threaten the public’s already shaky trust in online content.
On Tuesday, Google announced that it plans to “continue to integrate AI into everything we do,” and has redesigned its Android operating system to put the Gemini chatbot at the center.
Users can now rely on the chatbot as a human personal assistant, which can “understand your intentions, follow your train of thought, and complete complex tasks.”
The chatbot’s answers are based on information from the user’s personal data on the phone, such as documents or emails.
The new feature ‘Gemini Live’ allows users to have ‘free’ conversations with the chatbot throughout the day about ‘whatever is on their mind’.
Google said: ‘You can even pause a response mid-way to elaborate on a point, or pause a conversation and come back to it later.
“It’s like having a buddy in your pocket to discuss new ideas with or practice with during an important conversation.”
Users will have the option to leave the device on continuously in the background, allowing them to chat hands-free “just like a normal phone call”, it added.
Google stated that the security of this data is of the utmost importance and that due to the “all-in-one approach,” no third-party AI provider has access to the data.
The company said: ‘Whether your data is processed in the cloud or on a device, it is stored within Google’s secure end-to-end architecture, keeping your information safe and private.’
Gemini Live is rolling out today (Tuesday) to Gemini Advanced subscribers on Android phones. Gemini Live will expand to iOS in the coming weeks.