Google+ amps up photo search AI

Google has beefed up its search algorithms in the Google+ social network to make it easier to search for photos.

 

Product manager Matthew Kulick said this means an easier search for Google+ photos such as a friend’s wedding photos or pictures from a recent concert.

 

"Your photos represent some of your most important memories and life events, yet they are increasingly difficult to manage as you build up your photo library, accumulate new devices and make new friends. In many cases, searching for your photos can be challenging because the information you’re looking for is visual," Kulick said in a blog post.

 

Kulick also said Google is using computer vision and machine learning to help recognize "more general concepts in your photos such as sunsets, food and flowers."

 

But users will have to be signed in to Google for this feature to work.

 

A separate article on The Next Web said the feature goes further than just giving a list of all a user's photos.

 

"What’s amazing here is that these results are not being served based on tags, captions, or other ways to denote what is in a given photo. Google is analyzing the content of all your photos and deciding which ones are relevant to your query," it said.

 

It added its tests showed Google's computer vision part "works pretty well," and Google will be expected to constantly improve it via machine learning.

 

"It’s just too bad that the technology is limited to Google+. Hopefully Facebook is paying attention. This is just as, if not more, interesting than Graph Search," it added. — TJD, GMA News