About seven years ago, three researchers at the University of Toronto built a system that could analyze thousands of photos and teach itself to recognize everyday objects, like dogs, cars and flowers. The system was so effective that Google bought the tiny start-up these researchers were only just getting off the ground. Suddenly, machines could “see” in a way that was not possible in the past. This made it easier for a smartphone app to search your personal photos and find the images you were looking for. And it improved the accuracy of facial recognition services, for social networks like Facebook and for the country’s law enforcement agencies.

Source: New York Times March 02, 2019 01:52 UTC