The cloud is getting smarter by the minute. In fact, it will soon know more about the photos you’ve uploaded than you do.
Cloud storage company Box announced today that it is adding computer-vision technology from Google to its platform. Users will be able to search through photos, images, and other documents using their visual components, instead of by file name or tag.
“As more and more data goes into the cloud, we’re seeing they need more powerful ways to organize and understand their content,” says CEO Aaron Levie.
Computer-vision technology has improved remarkably over the past few years thanks to a machine-learning approach known as deep learning (see “10 Breakthrough Technologies 2013: Deep Learning”). A deep neural network—loosely inspired by the way neurons process and store information—can learn to recognize categories of objects, such as a “red sweater” or a “pickup truck.” Ongoing research, including work from Google’s researchers, is improving the ability of algorithms to describe what’s happening in images.
Box’s computer-vision feature could be a good way for companies to dip their toes into AI and machine learning. It removes the need to manually annotate thousands of images, and it will make it possible to search through older files in ways that might not have occurred to anyone during tagging. Levie says one company testing the technology is using it to search images for particular people.