Google launched the platform 25 years ago this week, and on Tuesday (14.07.26) they unveiled changes to the service, including a new feature replacing the traditional blank page and search bar with recommended images you might like.

In a blog post, Brad Kellett -

Senior Engineering Director for Search - wrote: "Today, we're introducing a brand new browseable home for Google Images, featuring a dynamic, immersive gallery of images from across the web — updated in real time and intelligently tailored to your unique interests.

"As you browse and save ideas to your collections, they’ll appear as tabs above the main gallery, making it easy to jump back in and continue exploring based on what inspires you.

"This will roll out over the coming weeks on desktop in the U.S. in English. Sign in to your Google Account to try it out."

Other changes include the ability to use AI to create new images from within Search itself.

He explained: "Sometimes, the perfect image is out there on the web, waiting to be found. But other times you might have a highly specific vision where an image doesn’t yet exist.

"To help bring those unique ideas to life, we’re bringing image generation directly into AI Overviews in Search.

"Using our latest Nano Banana model, this update transforms a simple text prompt into a high-quality, custom visual made completely from scratch, seamlessly bridging the gap between imagination and reality."

Elsewhere in the blog post, Google reflected on quarter of a century of Google Images, which launched in July 2001, months after Jennifer Lopez's green Versace dress "broke the internet" the previous year.

By 2009, the Similar Images feature launched, allowing users to "find pictures without relying on text alone", and two years later Search by Image was unveiled.

The next major update touted by the company is the introduction of Google Lens in Search in 2018, while Multisearch followed four years later.

In 2024, the new development was Circle to Search.

Google reflected: "With a simple gesture — like circling, highlighting, scribbling or tapping — you can select what you’re curious about on your phone screen and get more information right in the moment, without switching apps."

Lens and AI Mode followed in 2025 along with Search Live, visual results in AI Mode, and the ability to "explore multiple objects within a single image all at once" was brought to Circle to Search earlier in 2026.

The company concluded: "Over the last 25 years, Search has grown from helping you find a specific photo on the web to helping you search the world, exactly as you see — or imagine — it.

"We’ve come a long way and we’re excited to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in visual search."