Google's tool greatly simplifies photo editing; just tell your phone what changes you want in the photo, and it'll execute them. It also hints at the coming leap in how we interact with computers.

The smartphone has become the playground for new AI and generative AI features.

Apple made a significant push last year with Apple Intelligence, featuring tools like Image Playground, which allows you to create images from scratch, and Writing Tools that can rewrite and summarize text. On the latest iPhone 17 running iOS 26, machine intelligence powers the new live translation features in calls and messages. Google has many of the same features on Android; the latest Pixel 10 phones can generate a version of your voice for use in real-time language translations on calls.

As WIRED's resident smartphone reviewer, I've tested all of these phones and their hyped-up features. Very few of these capabilities have really felt like a practical, useful feature designed to make everyday life easier—something I could even see my parents using. That's what AI is supposed to do, right?

That's until I tried Google's new Ask Photos conversational editing feature in Google Photos which first debuted on the Pixel 10 phones and is now available on Android devices that can support it. The feature lets you type or speak out the visual edits you want to see in your photos without fumbling with menus and sliders. Most people have no idea how powerful the software on their phones already is, and so by being able to access all the editing tools that are available and use them to execute your desired task, this feature not only gives you the results you want in a nearly frictionless way, but it also helps you better understand what your smartphone is capable of.

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