Google Cloud Summit: Machine Learning for Lost & Found

Do you love machine learning and lost and found? Well you’re in luck since the Liff Happens team is at the Google Cloud Summit today and we are covering machine learning for lost & found.

What is the Cloud Summit?

Google has attracted industry experts to Navy Pier in Chicago to explore new ideas and engage with peers. Join together with executives, customers, partners, developers, IT decision makers, and Google engineers to build the future of the cloud. Specifically, learn from the expert solutions, deep dive into machine learning, explore the latest technology, and connect with other tech enthusiasts.

Machine Learning

So what is machine learning anyway? A magic box full of magic? All the AI? Nope. Machine learning is basically just a fancy way to label things. Not the most thrilling definition I’m sure. Without all the marketing magic and VC hype of AI, which many times is just a specific form of machine learning, it can get a little boring.
Machine learning just labels things. Thanks Jian-Yang!

I don’t get it. Why would you need that?

Well take a look at the image above. It’s pretty easy to tell which one is a hotdog. The human brain is pretty amazing since it can take that assortment of pixels and correctly identify a hotdog, pretty much every time.

The tricky part now is getting a computer to do that. The standard approach for getting computers to do our bidding requires programming. A programmer would need to think deeply about the pixels above, ponder the labels, and build a model (super fancy way of saying order of instructions or recipe).

Put yourself in the shoes of a programmer and think of all the possible cases of what could be a hotdog and not a hotdog. How can your brain just know what is and what is not a hotdog? It can be difficult to write the instructions if you aren’t entirely sure yourself.

Insert Machine Learning. ML is just a different template for programmers to interface and instruct computers. Now instead of having to give very specific instructions  you can provide examples and the machine learning algorithm finds pattern in the data provided. These patterns become the instructions you couldn’t think of earlier.

Software is pretty cool...

Ok ok I get it for hotdogs but why Lost & Found?

Well ya… hotdog identification is genius, get the application here. Lost & Found on the other hand is a bit of a difficult and rather large problem, specifically since there is little to no standardization on how to go about it (other than it will likely not be very fun).

Again, insert Machine Learning. The Liff Happens team is using ML to help consistently identify items and us the Liff App software to guide users on how to reunite those items with their owners. By bringing a little order and standardization to the chaos of Lost & Found we are able to save time, improve the customer experience, and ultimately get more consumers back to normal.

Interested in hearing more or want to chat with the Liff Happens Crew? Drop your info below: