Google has quietly paused the rollout of one of the most promising AI features set to come to Google Photos. The experimental feature has been slowly rolling out since last year, but now Google wants to put some more time into it.

A Short Pause That Will Hopefully Lead to Better Results

Ask Photos was one of the most exciting AI features that Google announced for its Photos app last year. In a special blog post announcing the feature, Google said that it would use a very specific version of Gemini designed wholly around working with photos.

The goal here was to provide everyone that uses Google Photos with an easier way to search for the photos that they needed to find. However, since the feature began rolling out to Android devices last fall, it has seen a notable downward spiral in efficiency and usefulness.

This spiral has apparently led Google to quietly pause the rollout, with the news coming in a post on X from Jamie Aspinall, a product manager for Google Photos. In the post, Aspinall responds to some comments criticizing the system. He says that right now “Ask Photos isn’t where it needs to be” and that the team is shutting down the rollout to improve its speed, quality, and UX design. He estimates it will be back up and running within a couple of weeks.

Not the First Gemini Letdown

This, of course, isn’t the first time Gemini has needed a little more time in the oven. Last year, shortly after debuting AI Overviews in Google Search, the tech giant had to pull the rollout back a little just to try to clean up some of the nonsense AI Overviews was spitting out. Even now, months later, the AI continues to answer poorly depending on the queries.

What is most telling about this particular pause, though, is that Google hasn’t really announced it outright. The company is certainly keeping its cards close to the chest, which makes sense as it has come under fire in the past with regard to how Gemini performs.

Tack on the fact that Ask Photos hasn’t really rolled out to that large of an userbase yet—the product manager said the numbers were small right now—and it’s the perfect opportunity for some quiet reformation.

Of course, those who have received the update in Google Photos will probably notice when things kick back into action, as Ask Photos will hopefully be much more responsive and better at doing its job.

Until then, though, anyone looking forward to getting access to this new Google Photos’ feature will need to keep waiting.