AI Photo Search: The Game-Changer I Didn’t Know I Needed

Since the popularisation of digital photography, anyone from a professional photographer to the average person snaps and accumulates an enormous amount of pictures.

While this can be a wonderful thing, it’s challenging to manage your photographic library and find a specific picture when needed.

Have you ever tried to locate a photo that you loved where you were wearing a red sweater, but you don’t remember when or where was it taken? No problem. With an AI search tool, you can simply type in “red sweater” and all your photos of where you’re wearing that outfit will show up.

Are you a wedding photographer culling a thousand photos from this weekend’s gig? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to easily discard all the blurred images and those where your subject has their eyes closed?

Guess what? You can also use AI to help you filter out these images to save time and jump right into editing.

These are just a couple of examples of how AI search tools can help you navigate your catalog and find only what you need without remembering dates, file names, which camera you used, and so on.

It’s also a great way to browse through images that you have scattered in different folders, hard drives, and devices.

I’ll tell you about some popular AI search tools I’ve tried in this article. Some are part of more robust software like Lightroom or Luminar, while others are stand-alone programs you can use to search your cloud storage accounts, hard drives, and even social media.

I’ve included solutions that target professional shooters and others for regular users wanting to browse their photographic memories.

There’s also a wide variety of price ranges – from free solutions like Ask Photos or Tonfotos to more expensive solutions like Excire or Mylio.

There’s something in here for everyone – so let’s get started.

What is the Best AI Image Search Tool in 2024?

Sensei (Lightroom)

If you use Lightroom Classic or an older version of Lightroom CC, you know how difficult it is to browse your Catalog.

Unless you’re very meticulous with organizing folders and collections and adding keywords, Lightroom hasn’t been the most efficient photo manager.

Fortunately, Adobe implemented an AI-powered search tool called Adobe Sensei. On the downside, it’s only available on Lightroom CC.

Adobe Sensei works by allowing you to describe a photo or type in a keyword, and it will show all the pictures that match. For example, you can type in the word “red,” and it will pull up all the images with a significant amount of red in them regardless of the subject or location of the picture.

In this situation, I find it very useful that it includes a wide range of analog colors. This way, it doesn’t risk leaving anything out. Unfortunately, this leeway reduces the accuracy when I type in something like “body of water.”

When I tested this, together with seascapes, lake landscapes, etc., it also included a portrait where the person was holding a blue skateboard, confusing it with water. That may be understandable, but for some reason, it also included a photo I took of my camera on a table.

When the issue is that it’s not very selective and includes more photos than it should, the problem isn’t too significant. However, it’s also inaccurate in the opposite way.

In my catalog, I have at least two food photographs featuring eggs. However, when I typed “eggs” in the search bar, it didn’t find anything. Somewhat disappointed, I decided to give it another try by narrowing down the search to the folder where I knew the pictures were – it didn’t find them there either.

If you’re not finding the picture you have in mind, it may take you a few tries to get the correct phrase or word. One of my egg photos turned up when typing “breakfast” – the other one didn’t.

So, it’s still not a reliable tool compared to its competitors. I must admit, though, that I’m mainly a Lightroom Classic user – therefore, I don’t use it often. This may be why I didn’t have such a good experience, but it’s certainly an improvement compared to the traditional search.

I hope Adobe implements Adobe Sensei in Lightroom Classic at some point, too.

For now, Adobe Sensei search is available in Lightroom CC in all its versions – desktop, browser, and mobile. This includes the free version of Lightroom mobile.

• What is the Best Photo Management Software?

Excire

 

For those of us using Lightroom Classic, the easiest way to have an AI search tool is by installing a third-party plug-in. I use Excire, which is also available as a stand-alone software if you prefer. They are two separate products – Excire Photo (stand-alone) and Excire Search (plug-in).

I must point out that Excire Photo doesn’t have any editing tools. Therefore, it’s not a substitute for Lightroom or other editing programs. If you want to use a single program, I suggest you use Excire Search inside Lightroom – this will get you the best of both worlds.

Even though I have both, I always end up using Excire Search because I make my edits with Adobe software. However, people who use other editing programs will benefit more from Excire Photo.

To go deeper into how Excire Photo works, you can check out my full review. It’s from an older version but will give you a more significant overview of its power.

Excire Photo is extremely powerful and has been pioneering AI search tools. The essential tools are easy to learn, making it a good option for beginners and enthusiasts. However, this audience might find Excire a bit pricey if they don’t cull high-volume photo shoots often.

On the plus side, previous versions of Excire are still for sale on the official website at lower prices. This may be a good solution.

It also has much more powerful tools that are useful for professional photographers. These features have a steeper learning curve and there aren’t many tutorials out there. The official manual download only covers the basics.

Now, let’s talk about Excire Search. Once installed in Lightroom, you’ll find it in the Library > Plug-in Extras menu. This allows you to search images using prompts in Lightroom Classic, just like Sensei does in Lightroom CC.

However, Excire goes well beyond the Sensei functionalities. Like in the desktop version, you can use the ‘Aesthetics’ filter to find the best photos based on its highly-trained algorithm.

Furthermore, the face search with its multiple settings helps you find group portraits, filter out faces with eyes closed, select only the ones with a smile, and so on.

If you thought that image-reverse search was limited to internet browsers, think again. Excire also lets you use an example photo to find similar ones in your collection.

Excire is also available to manage your Office database.

• Best AI Photo Editing Software

ACDSee Photo Studio Home 2025

ACDSee has been one of the leading photo management tools since its release in the ’90s. Therefore, it’s no surprise that it has implemented AI to stay current and help you find and organize your photo library with ease.

Not just that, but ACDSee’s Photo Studio Home also has some basic editing features. If you need more, one of the best things about ACDSee is that it works on a tier software structure.

ACDSee Photo Studio Home is the digital assets management, but you can build upon that with Photo Studio Professional or Photo Studio Ultimate.

These two would be the direct competitors of Lightroom and Photoshop, respectively, but they both offer excellent photo management tools from Photo Studio Home.

The three-tier structure refers only to the PC versions of the software. Mac has a single solution that offers photo management and advanced editing but doesn’t support layers.

Now, back to the topic that interests us today – AI search tools. These are present and have the same capabilities in all the ACDSee products.

The AI technology in ACDSee scans and assigns keywords to your images to make them easy to find without you having to add any information to them.

It also has a face recognition feature that allows you to search for photos where the same person is present. If you want, you can also tell ACDSee who is who.

You only have to do this once, and the AI assistant in People Mode will later suggest the name for you to accept or reject the tagging whenever it recognizes the same person. Don’t worry about privacy – ACDSee doesn’t send your images or any information out of your computer.

If you want to do more than just browsing, ACDSee can also perform batch processes, detect duplicates, resize and rename, etc.

With the Activity Manager, you can keep track of all the background processes, pause them, cancel them or anything you need to keep your workflow fast and efficient.

 

As for the interface, ACDSee allows you to work on tabs. This way, you can browse multiple folders simultaneously and toggle between tabs to jump from one to another without wasting time.

Another advantage is the mobile sync feature using the ACDSee app available for iPhone and Android. This way, you can send photos and videos from your phone to your computer.

ACDSee is available as a single purchase without subscription-based plans. The cost is affordable for both enthusiasts and professionals, and it offers excellent value for money.

Beware that the ACDSee free manager doesn’t have an AI search tool. It is, however, an excellent software if you need basic managing tools like searching by file name, opening raw files, and sharing or printing your photos.

• Exploring the Best AI-Powered Image Upscaling Tools

Smart Search (Luminar Neo)

AI has always been the strong point of Skylum’s software Luminar. So, it’s unsurprising that Luminar Neo‘s catalog features an efficient AI-driven Smart Search.

Smart Search doesn’t have too many bells and whistles to talk about. It will allow you to browse your library using keywords or phrases, but it doesn’t have any filters or allow you to customize the search. However, I love that it’s fast and accurate.

Smart Search is a feature included by default in Luminar Neo, which you can get as a one-time purchase or a subscription. You’ll find this tool on the top-left side of the Catalog workspace.

Here, you’ll find the search bar. Once you click on the bar, it will pop up as a dialog box in the center. Unless it’s your first time using it, you’ll see the recent searches under the bar.

As you start typing, you’ll see some suggestions, much like what happens when you’re typing in Google’s search bar. However, Neo won’t suggest terms to use. Instead, it will ask if you want images containing “x,” images with “x” in the file name, and some folders.

These suggestions will keep updating as you type. When you’ve finished with the word or phrase, you’ll see what your options are. It will also tell you how many of each it found.

Smart Search is very reactive, and whenever you’re looking for something featured in the picture, I found it to be very accurate. However, typing other characteristics such as soft focus, narrow depth of field, or golden hour is not so good. In my experience, it leaves out many images.

If you’re unfamiliar with Neo, you should know that you must import your images into its catalog (just like in Lightroom). Therefore, the Smart Search is limited to whatever you have imported – it won’t search on your hard drive or connect to any cloud storage.

Mylio

 

Mylio is a useful software tool that helps you manage the media you have stored all around the place – that’s why it’s ideal for everyone, not just photographers.

In the last decade, we’ve all started taking pictures of our everyday lives and generated hundreds and even thousands of photos – often without any organizational system.

What once was a problem for photographers and enthusiasts is now a common issue. If finding an image on a large hard drive is difficult, it’s even more so when the photos are scattered everywhere.

Most people have photos on their phone, others on their camera’s memory card, others aren’t saved but shared on social media, others on cloud services, and so on.

Doesn’t that sound like a nightmare when you need a specific pic to share or print? Well, Mylio aims to solve your troubles.

Mylio allows you to search for photos traditionally using metadata and ratings. However, it also uses AI technology to identify faces, objects, text, and visual characteristics to help you search.

The AI in Mylio creates what’s called SmartTags which are automatically generated based on the analysis of the photo. Every time you add a new photo, Mylio will scan it and generate SmartTags for it.

This allows you to type what you’re looking for—say, “wedding”—into the search bar, and it will return options that include “wedding” as a keyword, along with those tagged with related SmartTags.

You can also open the By SmartTag tab on the side panel. Here, you’ll see all the SmartTags as categories. You can then browse each one and adjust its sensitivity using a slider. This way, it will include more or less photos depending on how sensitive it is.

It might sound a bit confusing, but a good thing about Mylio is that you’ll find tons of tutorials on YouTube. Using these, you can quickly learn how it works and go as deep as you want on its more advanced features.

When organizing your images, you can also choose to share them with your loved ones. However, the passwords and permissions give you full control over who sees what.

You can also back up your images locally or use Mylio’s cloud storage—this is entirely optional. Another good thing about Mylio is that it has editing tools, so it can become an all-in-one solution.

Mylio works on a subscription plan. Depending on the duration of the contract, you pay more or less – the longer the contract, the bigger the savings. The monthly option is quite expensive as it costs the same as Adobe’s Photography plan.

Of course, this is a good solution if you only plan to use Mylio for one or two months. Otherwise, choose a longer period or get software that can be bought on a single payment.

Mylio offers a 7-day free trial, but you have to provide your credit card details from the beginning.

• How to Use Mylio with Lightroom Classic

Ask Photos (Google Photos)

 

You probably know Gemini, the AI chatbot from Google. Well, now you can use it inside Google Photos through a feature called Ask Photos.

If it’s available on your device, you’ll see that Ask has replaced the traditional Search icon you used to have. The icon is still a magnifying glass, but it now says Ask next to it.

The first time you use Ask Photos, it identifies the faces of people and animals that appear most frequently in your photos. It then lets you name them individually, making it easy to later search for “photos of my husband” or “photos of Bill” and retrieve them effortlessly.

Once that’s set up, you can start using Ask Photos to browse your photo collection. You don’t need to restrict yourself to the information you just provided – it analyses all your pictures and recognizes all sorts of elements.

You can ask for all your photos where you’re wearing a blue dress, or all pictures taken at golden hour, and so on.

However, Ask Photos is more than a search tool – it’s a chatbot. So, AskPhotos provides information from each photo and interacts with you by asking for further information.

You can also use Ask Photos for other tasks based on your photos. For example, you can ask which places you visited on your last trip. Ask Photos will then check your photo collection from your last vacation and scan for landmarks and other clues to provide you with a list of places you visited.

Ask Photos was released to selected users from the US in September 2024. Since it’s pretty new, it’s still learning, and it will roll out to more users in the (hopefully near) future. You can join the waiting list here.

• 5 Smart Ways to Use AI in Your Photography

ON1 Photo Keyword AI

 

You may know ON1 Photo Raw. The same company develops this software, but it’s not the same product. In other words, I’m not talking about a search tool inside ON1 Photo Raw but a stand-alone program.

ON1 Photo Keyword AI is designed to analyze your photos and suggest keywords that will help you sort and categorize your entire photo collection.

You may not be particularly interested in keywording your images if you’re not a professional photographer. However, you can still use the software simply to browse your collection and find specific pictures.

Let’s say you’re an enthusiast whose collection mainly includes family gatherings, trips, and pictures of your kids. You can use ON1 Photo Keyword face recognition to find portraits. Then, you can filter the results by selecting the number of people, age, and gender.

You can also search based on text describing an object contained in the picture, even if you haven’t assigned keywords to your photographs.

If you’re a professional or an enthusiast who wants to go further with photo management, you can keyword your photos, add geotags, create smart folders, and rate and cull your images.

ON1 Photo Keyword AI has a comparative view which allows you to choose the best photograph from a set of similar images. You can also turn on focus and clipping masks so you can easily see which one is technically better.

I use ON1 Photo Keyword AI as a stand-alone program because I use Excire with Lightroom. However, you can use it as a plug-in for Adobe, Affinity, Capture One, or Corel.

Using ON1 Photo Keyword AI, you can browse your local hard drive, external hard drives, and popular cloud storage services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive.

While this software isn’t as robust as Excire, it does offer a good set of functions that suit the needs of both professionals and casual shooters at a more affordable price.

You can purchase ON1 Photo Keyword AI with one-time pay – no subscription options exist. It has a 30-day trial period, which doesn’t require a credit card.

While the software is not complicated, you may need some time to understand how it works and make the most of it. On the plus side, you can download the PDF guide with everything you need to know.

You’ll also find a good amount of video tutorials on the ON1 website if you prefer.

• Best AI Tools for Fixing Blurry Photos

Tonfotos

 

This is the only software from this list available for Linux users. Of course, it’s also available for Mac and Windows. You can also log in to Telegram if you want your photos and videos from those chats to be automatically downloaded.

These two things make Tonfotos unique. Tonfotos has three license tiers, including a fully functional free version.

However, this limits the number of people in the photo and sends anonymous statistics gathered from your use of the software. These can be disabled if you buy a license.

Tonfotos is mostly built for organizing and browsing family photos. The AI algorithm finds faces and lets you put a tag on them. Then, it will automatically identify all the images where that person appears. It will also suggest the name tag whenever a new photo is detected.

You can also use Tonfotos to create slideshows, compress and convert images to JPG, download photos from your phone, and watch videos.

This way, it’s easy to find portraits within your collection. Let’s say you want to make a slideshow for your 25th wedding anniversary party. Then, you can easily find and select the best photos of you and your partner, regardless of the folder they’re in.

It’s also possible to search based on keywords. However, for complex searches you need to have added tags manually to each photograph for it to show up. Therefore, it uses the traditional search method and not a smart search.

So, Tonfotos is a limited software tool compared to the others on the list. However, it is a valuable tool for someone whose interest is to manage a personal library.

Frequently Asked Questions about AI Image Search Tools

Can I use AI to search my photos?

Of course! Most DAM (Digital Asset Management) software has an AI tool to help you search your photos using content or attributes. Some cloud storage services, such as Google Photos also have this technology.

Can AI find the best photos?

Some AI search tools have the option to find what they consider to be the best shots based on technical accuracy and what it’s learned to be aesthetically pleasing. However, it won’t necessarily reflect what you think is best.

Can I use face recognition on my photos?

Yes, many AI-driven photo management software tools use face recognition. Some of them only use this technology to find faces and, therefore, search for portraits or filter by genre and age. Other programs allow you to add names. This way, once you’ve labeled John, you can search for all the photos featuring John, for example.

Is there an AI to organize photos?

Yes, all the programs listed in this article and others I didn’t include have AI-powered tools to help you organize your photo library.