Artificial Intelligence (AI) is getting smarter with every day. Machine learning algorithms we call AI are becoming much more capable and versatile. As a recent development, Google Cloud’s AI has become capable of detecting celebrities and the resultant module is called Celebrity Recognition Service.
Be it law enforcement, immigration, smartphone manufacturers or content producers, the idea of positively recognizing and identifying people on the basis of physical attributes such as facial contours, height or body dimensions has always intrigued technology professionals.
Presently, the ratio of video content is overwhelmingly high in relation to the overall content being produced for the internet. Video is otherwise a very powerful medium of communication, because it harnesses the two key elements of audio and visuals in one place.
Content producers and managers were simply overwhelmed by the vast volumes of video content being produced, uploaded and propagated across the web. On the other end of this spectrum is the end user or viewer, who is now preprogrammed to be served with highly personalized and preferential video content.
Traditionally, to make video content more “recognizable” over the web, content producers and managers have to resort to the painstaking and laborious process of adding relevant tags. No matter how well produced a video, without proper and detailed tagging, it was not at all likely to do well over the internet.
Considering this need, Google has introduced the Celebrity Recognition Service which will positively identify known celebrities in the videos in which they feature. So far, the service has been restricted by Google to its clients in the Media and Entertainment industries.
To further streamline the process, Google has formally defined the term “Celebrity” in its Terms of Service as an “Individual whose primary profession involves voluntarily being the subject of public media attention”. Another commendable feature of this service is that celebrities may opt out of this service at will.
Broadly speaking, the “celebrities” in question will largely be comprised of actors, sportsmen, athletes and politicians. Currently, the facility is restricted to professionally produced content such as movies, TV shows and sporting events, but may make its way to amateur content in the future.
E-commerce giant Amazon already has a comparable celebrity detection service called “Rekognition”. Microsoft’s Azure Cognitive Services can also recognize around a million celebrities from different walks of life. The recent addition of Google to this club is a welcome move for improving the overall user experience.
