Microsoft has introduced a new app called Fetch! that can identify a dog's breed.
The app, a Microsoft Garage project, uses artificial intelligence (AI) for classifying an image of a dog to the breed it belongs. The app is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch running on iOS 8.3 or above.
The app is quite straightforward and users just have to take a photo of a dog from their iDevice's camera and use it on the app to find the breed of the dog. Customers can also post an image of a dog on What-Dog.com to see its breed.
The app also provides information about coat, size, disposition and the type of families a dog is best suited for.
To add fun factor to the app, Microsoft added a mode that allows users to put an image of a human to see what type of dog the person would be.
"Just for fun we include a mode that lets you find out what dog breeds you and your friends are," says the product description of Fetch! on the Apple App Store. "This is the kind of app you're going to take out when you're with your friends. You'll make fun of each other, comparing which breeds you look like and posting the tagged photos."
AI apps become more accurate as users upload more data and images. The same is also applicable for Fetch!
The app developers say that they wanted to create an app that offers object recognition ability to customers but at the same time add a touch of fun as well.
"There was an interest in creating a framework that would allow you to take a domain - in our case, dogs - and recognize numerous classes, such as breeds," says Mitch Goldberg, a development director at Microsoft Research. The Microsoft Research team from Cambridge in the UK built the app.
Many people who have tried the app love it.
"As a veterinarian I was excited to try this app. So far it has worked great on pictures of my cavalier King Charles spaniel but has struggled providing a consistent answer for pictures of my terrier. Regardless, it is a ton of fun!" commented a user on the Apple App Store.
Fetch! is available as a free download from the Apple App Store. It weighs 58.1 MB and currently supports English language only. Hopefully, support for more languages will be added later.
Android users may feel left out, but there's always hope that Microsoft will launch an Android version of Fetch! as well.
