Google Images Turns 25 and Gets a Pinterest-Style Makeover
A scrollable image feed, personalised collections, and AI-generated pictures inside search results are all coming to Google Images in the next few weeks.
Key points
- Google Images is turning 25 this week and is replacing its plain search homepage with a personalised, scrollable image gallery.
- The new feed updates in real time and tailors itself to each signed-in user's interests.
- Signed-in desktop users in the United States will see the new homepage roll out over the coming weeks, in English only at launch.
- Google Search will also gain the ability to generate images inside AI Overviews, the AI-written answer boxes that appear at the top of search results, using a model called Imagen 2 Lite.
- How Google will stop the feature from generating AI images for sensitive topics, such as current events, is not yet clear.
Google Images used to greet you with basically nothing: a search bar, some tabs, and a lot of white space. That is about to change.
To mark the platform's 25th anniversary, Google is swapping that blank homepage for a scrollable feed of pictures it thinks you will enjoy, sourced from across the web and updated in real time. Think Pinterest or Imgur: a dense, visual grid you can browse before you have even typed a single word.
You will also be able to save pictures into collections, which will sit as tabs above the feed so you can find them again later. Handy if you are, say, gathering kitchen tile ideas or tracking down that sofa you saw last Tuesday.
The new homepage rolls out over the coming weeks for signed-in desktop users in the United States, in English. No word yet on when it arrives for everyone else.
Should users be worried about AI-generated images appearing in search results?
Not immediately, but it is worth knowing they are coming. Google is also adding AI image generation directly into AI Overviews, the AI-written summary boxes that already appear at the top of many search results. The tool uses a Google AI model called Imagen 2 Lite to create images on the fly. Google's own demo prompts use phrases like "help me visualise" or "create a visual", for example to picture different sofas in your living room before you buy one.
That part sounds useful. The open question is guardrails. First reported by The Verge, Google has not yet explained which kinds of prompts will trigger image generation or how it will prevent the tool from producing AI-made pictures for topics where that could cause real harm, like breaking news or political events. We will update this story when Google answers those questions.
For now, the practical upshot is simple. If you use Google Images on a desktop and you are signed in, expect a livelier homepage soon. And if you see a generated image pop up in a search answer, remember it was made by AI, not found on the web.
