Google Announces Partnership To Bring Visual Recognition To Smartphones

In the near future, Google believes that smartphones will be equipped with the technology needed to recognize faces and objects entirely on their own.

The tech giant last week announced a partnership with San Francisco-area chipmaker Movidius to provide mobile devices with "deep learning" capabilities.

Under the agreement, Google will utilize the MA2450, the latest chip in Movidius' Myriad 2 line of vision processors.

Movidius touted the MA2450 as the only commercially available chip efficient enough to performing complex computations in a compact form.

The chipmaker, meanwhile, will receive help from Google on its neural network technology.

"Movidius’ mission is to bring visual intelligence to devices so that they can understand the world in a more natural way," said Movidius CEO Remi El-Ouazzane. "This partnership with Google will allow us to accelerate that vision in a tangible way."

Currently, advanced computing operations require the use of external data centers, but Google officials said Movidius' technology would enable devices to interpret images and sounds without interruptions or reliance on an Internet connection.

“What Google has been able to achieve with neural networks is providing us with the building blocks for machine intelligence, laying the groundwork for the next decade of how technology will enhance the way people interact with the world,” said Blaise Agϋera y Arcas, who heads the company's Seattle-based machine intelligence group.

Movidius previously partnered with Google on Project Tango, which allows smartphones and tablets to map their surroundings in real time.