An addition to Google Search that isn’t “AI Mode” but still uses AI, the search system will let you see how clothes look on your body before you spend money.
It seems impossible to escape AI, especially how it intersects with the way we search. But just in case you needed something else to try, Google Search in Australia is now supporting the ability to digitally try on clothes as part of its “AI Try On” feature.
While it probably won’t be the death knell for actual in-person shopping, anyone curious how a garment or style looks on their body will soon be able to use themselves as the model for online shopping.
The feature is rolling out across Australia, and uses a custom AI model for fashion, built to understand the difference between materials and how they flex, fold, stretch, and drape, applying the changes to photos of you, so you can use your own image as the model.
Similar to the Snapchat experiments with garments and accessories, Google’s Try It On is about showing how you would look with items of fashion, albeit using photos rather than augmented reality, the way Snapchat has tried it in the past.
It’s a little like seeing yourself in a clothing catalogue, but having it work with the millions of items found across Google Shopping. Google even notes it could work across product results found in Google Images, making it possible to wear pretty much anything you find that’s clearly a product.
To try out “Try It On”, search through Google and find some clothing images, and then press the icon for the feature, adding a full-length photo of yourself to the system and having it map the clothing to your body.
This could be something you end up doing later on, mind you, because several days later after Google began rolling out the feature, it’s still not there for everyone, this journalist included. As it is, AI Mode is only just making its way into the web browsers of more Australians, over a week since Google announced AI Mode was coming to Australia.
While AI Mode is designed to collapse multiple searches into one big answer — and the jury is still out on whether it does it properly for every query — it does seem like Try It On could lead to folks getting a firmer idea as to whether a garment will look good on them, and then directing them to buying it.
However, AI can’t tell you whether a piece of clothing will feel nice, how the fabric feels, and if the material is thick or thin, protecting or exposing you to the elements. For that, you’ll still need to see the item in person, and head to the store (or buy it with the potential to return it, as some online outlets provide).
