Google sells AI systems that help to create AI

GOOGLE has been using artificial intelligence to build other artificially intelligent systems for the past several months.

Now the company plans to sell this kind of “automated machine learning” technology to other businesses across the globe.

On Wednesday, Google introduced a cloud-computing service that it bills as a way to build a so-called computer vision system that suits your particular needs – even if you have little or no experience with the concepts that drive it.

If you are a radiologist, for example, you can use CT scans to automatically train a computer algorithm that identifies signs of lung cancer. If you run a real estate website, you can build an algorithm that distinguishes between living rooms and kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms.

At least that is the pitch.

“You don’t need a PhD in machine learning,” said Diane Greene, who oversees Google’s cloud computing group.

“But you can still build a highly accurate machine learning model.”

Like many of the world’s largest internet companies in recent years, Google has begun relying on machine learning – computer algorithms that can learn tasks on their own by analysing large amounts of data. These include systems that learn to recognise commands spoken into smartphones or translate one language into another. They also include algorithms that learn to build other machine learning systems.

The new service is part of a widespread effort to expand the power of modern AI to businesses that are largely unfamiliar with this rapidly evolving technology.

But with its new service, Google goes a step further, providing an automated way for businesses to build new algorithms. Businesses can train their own computer vision systems, tackling tasks that aren’t necessarily handled by existing technology, according to Google.

Initially, Google will open this service only to a small group of businesses. A Google product manager, Rajen Sheth, said the company would work with these customers to determine the price.