This week Stephen Wolfram, founder and chief executive of Wolfram Research, announced a new component of the Wolfram Language for programming called ImageIdentify. Wolfram also introduced a new website, dubbed The Wolfram Language Image Identification Project, that demonstrates the language's new capabilities.
The new site lets you upload images and get inferences and definitions in response. You can provide feedback, which should help it become more accurate. You can hit buttons like "Great!," "Could be better," "Missed the point," and "What the heck?!" After you choose one, the service offers a few more guesses, and a text box where you can type in a tag. Then you can type in your email address, so it can tell you "when ImageIdentify learns more about your kind of image."
The service uses a trendy type of artificial intelligence called deep learning. It draws on artificial neural networks, which train on a large quantity of information, like pictures, and then make inferences when you give it new information, like a new picture. Big web companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft use deep learning for various purposes, and increasingly smaller companies have been exposing deep learning tools for pretty much anyone to try out.
To get a rough sense of the power of the new Wolfram technology, I decided to put it up against other existing image-recognition systems you can test out on the Internet today, from CamFind, Clarifai, MetaMind, Orbeus, and IBM-owned AlchemyAPI. I chose images from Flickr that seemed to clearly fall into the 1,000 categories used for the 2014 ImageNet visual recognition competition. It was unscientific -- just for the sake of curiosity.
What I found is that Wolfram's new system doesn't seem to be all that bad. It wasn't overly conservative or vague, and it didn't make many obvious mistakes -- although it wasn't as consistently accurate as MetaMind, for one. With time, Wolfram's technology should improve -- especially as people point out its flaws.
Here are 10 of the tests I ran to reach my conclusion.
1.Coffee mug
Wolfram ImageIdentify: teaCamFind: white ceramic mugClarifai: coffee cup nobody tea mug cafe hot ceramic coffee cup cutoutMetaMind: Coffee mugOrbeus: cupAlchemyAPI: coffee
2. Mushroom
Wolfram ImageIdentify: magic mushroomCamFind: white mushroomClarifai: mushroom fungi fungus toadstool nature grass fall moss forest autumnMetaMind: MushroomOrbeus: fungusAlchemyAPI: mushroom
3. Spatula
Wolfram ImageIdentify: spatulaCamFind: black kitchen turnerClarifai: steel wood knife handle iron fork equipment nobody tool chromeMetaMind: spatulaOrbeus: toolAlchemyAPI: knife
4. Scoreboard
Wolfram ImageIdentify: scoreboardCamFind: baseball scoreboardClarifai: scoreboard soccer stadium football game competition goal group north america matchMetaMind: ScoreboardOrbeus: billboardAlchemyAPI: sport
5. German shepherd
Wolfram ImageIdentify: German shepherdCamFind: black and brown German shepherdClarifai: dog canine cute puppy mammal loyalty grass sheepdog fur German hepherdMetaMind: German Shepherd, German Shepherd Dog, German Police Dog, AlsatianOrbeus: animalAlchemyAPI: dog
6. Toucan
Wolfram ImageIdentify: tufted puffinCamFind: toucan birdClarifai: bird one north america nobody animal people adult nature two outdoorsMetaMind: toucanOrbeus: animalAlchemyAPI: sport
7. Indian cobra
Wolfram ImageIdentify: black-necked cobraCamFind: brown and beige cobra snakeClarifai: snake nobody reptile cobra wildlife daytime sand rattlesnake north america desertMetaMind: Indian cobra, Naja NajaOrbeus: animalAlchemyAPI: snake
8. Strawberry
Wolfram ImageIdentify: strawberryCamFind: red strawberry ruitClarifai: fruit sweet food strawberry ripe juicy berry healthy isolated deliciousMetaMind: strawberryOrbeus: strawberryAlchemyAPI: berry
9. Wok
Wolfram ImageIdentify: cooking panCamFind: gray steel frying panClarifai: ball nobody pan cutout kitchenware north america tableware competition bowl glassMetaMind: wokOrbeus: frying panAlchemyAPI: (No tags)
10. Shoe store
Wolfram ImageIdentify: storeCamFind: black crocsClarifai: colour street people color car mall road fair architecture hotelMetaMind: Shoe Shop, Shoe StoreOrbeus: shoe shopAlchemyAPI: sport