25th June 2012
Google Brain recognises cats in YouTube videos

One of the many experimental projects at the Google X laboratory was a "deep learning" technique whose aim was to improve the adaptability of machine learning technology, especially when dealing with data that has not been labelled and identified by humans. The project was later named Google Brain.

Using 16,000 CPUs in their data centres and software that let it easily break programs into many tasks that could be computed simultaneously, the project was able to teach itself to recognise patterns in random samples of unlabelled data.

After processing randomly-selected YouTube thumbnails, Google Brain produced a number of images that it had learned to recognise. One of these images was the face of a cat.

The scientists behind the project said that it appeared they had developed a simulation of what takes place in the brain’s visual cortex.

Related information:

• Centre for Computing History: Google
• Google: Using large-scale brain simulations for machine learning and A.I.
• BBC News: Google computer works out how to spot cats

Image:

• Image produced by Google Brain
  Credit: Google. Images remain the copyright of the original copyright holder. Used under fair use policy for educational purposes only.