Google releases new Lens AI tools for Black Friday shopping

You might do most of your Black Friday and Christmas shopping online, but you’ll probably visit plenty of brick-and-mortar retail stores in the coming weeks. You’ll be assaulted with deals on all sorts of products on your Christmas lists, yet you won’t know if the in-store price is better than the deals you can get online. That’s where Google’s new AI update for Google Lens comes in.

The app will let you take a photo of a product and provide more information. That’s a feature already available in Google Lens. With this new update, however, Google Lens will now surface product insights tailored to the store you’re visiting.

Google Lens will display reviews of similar products that might be in stock at that store and tell you whether the price is competitive. It all happens with a single photo, and it might beat any in-store shopping experience involving online searches that you’ve tried before.

Google said in a blog post that Google Lens is used almost 20 billion times per month, with nearly 4 billion sessions being related to shopping.

The new feature is possible thanks to Google’s “major advancements” in AI image recognition technology. The company said various technologies are involved, including the Shopping Graph’s 45 billion product listings, in-stock inventory data from various listings, and Gemini models.

Google also cites studies that show Google Lens might come in handy to undecided shoppers. According to a survey, 72% of Americans use their smartphone when shopping in-store. More than 50% of responders left a store empty-handed as they were not confident enough to buy.

Google Lens might give you the reassurance you need. You might want to read reviews or look for the best possible Black Friday and Christmas deals. Google Lens might help with that, as seen above and below.

While the Google Lens update is definitely great news for shoppers, it won’t work with all types of products. Initially, beauty products, toys, and electronics will be supported. Other caveats include the stores sharing their inventory with Google. Also, you will have to share your location when using Google Lens through the Google app.

The new Google Lens AI feature will work great when paired with the latest Google Maps update. A few days ago, Google revealed that you can search for products in Google Maps, and the app will show you nearby stores that have them in stock.

The Google Lens update will roll out to Android and iPhone in the US via the Google app. The Google Maps update will cover home goods, electronics, clothing, grocery stores, and other items. That update will be available in the coming weeks in the US.

New Lens AI features aside, Google also announced updates for Google Pay that you might appreciate over the busy shopping season.

Google is expanding its buy now, pay later feature by adding Afterpay to Google Pay. The payment app already supports Affirm and Zip, with Klarna coming soon.

Google is also updating a security feature in Google Pay, virtual cards. The feature lets you conceal the card numbers of physical cards from American Express, Capital One, and Citi to reduce the risk of fraud. This month, Google Pay will also support Discover cards in the US. Virtual cards will be available on Android and in Chrome.

Finally, Google is working on an interesting pilot program that might boost store card transaction security.

Google said it’s working on a service to help merchants identify fraudulent transactions. This pilot would prevent thieves from using stolen financial information and unblock legitimate transactions that might be mistakenly flagged as fraud. It’s unclear how this feature will work or when it’ll be available.