Table of Contents
Gathering, analyzing, and processing visual data with the help of computers, software, and artificial intelligence has become one of the most interesting topics that companies and universities have been studying across the world. In fact, numerous research papers focus solely on the topic of computer vision (CV), and each year disrupt the AI industry with additional functionalities and application possibilities in various industries. Here we will take a closer look at the top 4 and see how computer vision revolutionizes the way companies develop their business strategies and the latest trends that are continuously shaping our ever-evolving computer-human world.
1. Marketing
Marketing is one of the industries that is changing so fast that often causes overwhelming data ingestion that marketers, agencies, departments, and managers need to adjust to in order to survive. A highly competitive industry, marketing relies on visuals, stories, data, spreadsheets, analytics, KPIs and many more touchpoints that need to be collected, summarized, presented, and drive action. Traditionally speaking, a spreadsheet filled with numbers and words could have provided enough accurate and reliable data to generate great marketing results, but today, more advanced visual representations of KPIs and data are needed in order to maximize conversions. Pinterest, for example, has completely developed its platform based on the visual search that uses advanced discovery tools in order to generate the best possible content for its users.
2. Automotive industry
Human fatigue is often one of the top reasons for causing a car accident and giants such as Apple and Waymo (a subsidiary of Google) are trying to optimize transportation in order to combat this issue. Computer vision systems that provide a 360-view around the car and help in spotting pedestrians within a 300-yard radius enable cars and drivers to react promptly and minimize the risk of an accident. Self-driving cars are becoming empowered with CV more than ever before alongside neural networks that clean the noise in sensor data and enable safer navigation through the streets.
3.Healthcare
Cancer screening is one of computer vision applications where healthcare professionals can detect precancerous lesions in tissue imagery, enabling more accuracy in screening tests. Doctors could never achieve this level of detailed image analysis with human vision only, therefore, CV show extreme promise in the healthcare industry. In fact, Stanford has developed a model that analyzes skin images against data of more than 120 000 skin cancer images. This model, known as a convolutional neural network (CNN), has proven to detect skin cancer as effective as a certified dermatologist. The possibilities of diagnostics with the help of computer vision are definitely revolutionizing the healthcare industry.
4. Retail
When it comes to retail, the advancement and application of computer vision have recently started to develop even in Lenovo, a company that usually focuses on creating smart home devices, computers, and phones. They’ve opened a convenience store in Beijing that scans people’s faces with the help of the facial recognition technology and identifying their account profile. The client can shop and leave the store while the charges are automatically deducted directly from their mobile payments account. This is currently a pilot program, but Lenovo stated that they will also include automatic delivery and other technology-advanced features in a bid to test facial recognition and artificial intelligence capabilities.
Key takeaways
Computer vision is developing is helping industries, businesses, and, ultimately, people, to effectively manage visual analysis methods and produce results that human vision and manual data management would take months, if not years. Applications that we have mentioned are only some of the numerous that are currently disrupting industries across the world and we will certainly see even more adoption of this fascinating technology in the future.
