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IN THE HISTORY of artificial intelligence, there has been a slew of peaks and troughs in confidence and interest in the technology.
In the industry, the troughs are known as ‘AI winters’. They can cause innovation to slow down until public and commercial interest is drummed up again, or researchers make a significant breakthrough.
With AI arguably having reached its highest peak in history, it begs the question: will we see ever another AI winter? If you ask Luca Boschin and Alessandro Prest, the co-founders of Dublin AI startup LogoGrab, you’ll get two different answers.
“Hopefully not,” Prest says. Boschin chips in with “I wouldn’t mind”.
That’s because for Boschin, there’s a lot of gratuitous hype still bubbling around AI and if people were a little more sceptical, it might weed some of this out.
“There are a lot of people that say ‘we have AI’, just to say it. Hopefully, this hype will stop and people get real again and focus on really solving challenges,” Boschin says.
Prest, on the other hand, wants to avoid future troughs but believes AI needs to mature to prevent another ‘winter’ period.
“There’s going to be hopefully a period of maturity where people that were just claiming to do AI while having very basic solutions disappear and more scalable solutions are going to stay around,” Prest says.
He began working in artificial intelligence “when it was not sexy”, having completed his PhD in the field. He says that a great paradigm shift for the technology came in the last decade with the increased availability of data.
With the vast troves of data that each person generates every day, AI algorithms now have a rich set to learn from that they simply didn’t have in previous eras.
Boschin and Prest are both from Italy and initially set up their company in Switzerland but moved it to Ireland in 2014. The company uses AI to scour the web for brands to find where their logos and imagery are being used.
Its technology is applied in social media and advertising monitoring as well as counterfeit detection and IP protection where the human eye can’t keep up.
“If you want to support interesting insights and trends in this data, you cannot have humans review all that stuff; it’s just too much,” Prest explains.
According to the co-founders, it secured €3.5 million in sales in 2019, working with some major brands via partnerships with the likes of social media monitoring agencies.
A brand like Heineken can use the technology to see where its logo is appearing at events or where people are posting pictures of its drinks.
eBay uses LogoGrab’s AI to help find counterfeit material on its marketplace by detecting familiar imagery that’s been used by cheats.
“We’re adding more and more pieces that are not necessarily just logo recognition. They may be things like understanding on which object the logo was placed, so was it on a hat? Was it on a billboard?” Boschin adds.
Relocating
Prest and Boschin were in Switzerland when they started putting together what would become LogoGrab.
In 2014, the duo raised some early-stage capital and decided to relocate to Dublin to build their company. In 2016, they raised a further €1.5 million.
At the time, the startup was throwing its hat into a ring crowded with AI companies both big and small.
Prest says that they identified logo recognition “as being viable and difficult enough that it would be a worthwhile challenge”.
“In hindsight, it has been a clever decision because it’s still an area where we dominate, no matter how many big companies try to get into the space,” Prest says.
“The time that we invested in our R&D is really paying off now because the barrier to entry is pretty high and we’ve always been fairly obsessed with quality.”
There’s something of an arms race going on in AI, with companies trying to grab the spotlight.
That spotlight has increased scrutiny and concern over the unchecked power of AI and the privacy implications of its applications like facial recognition.
Prest and Boschin are speaking to Fora amid a backdrop of scandals in the AI space, namely at the US company Clearview AI, which has amassed a sprawling database of facial images for use by law enforcement.
“The capability of these systems has reached an inflection point where if used with the wrong intent, it could actually be a net loss for society,” Prest says.
Regulators are taking action too. Earlier in February, the European Commission presented a slew of regulatory proposals to rein in ‘high risk’ AI but the exact shape that these regulations will take remains to be seen.
“Hopefully we’re going to keep using common sense and ethics as we do for everything else,” Boschin says.
Privacy
Digital privacy and how data is used are now major public concerns and the duo has witnessed the response to that shift.
“Everything is becoming much more private. We see Facebook emphasising more and more private interaction as opposed to public posts. I think the social networks are changing themselves, there’s definitely a different game nowadays,” Prest says.
“This is part of an ongoing conversation that we’re having with our partners and prospects and we do see that their attitude is changing.”
Will that shift towards more private communications impact negatively on LogoGrab if it means that photos people post online aren’t as easily available?
“The whole social media monitoring space is a smaller part of the overall business so I wouldn’t be strictly too concerned about that,” Boschin says.
“There’s always going to be an element of data being made publicly available.”
The company’s diversification is evident in its latest product, launched in January, which is an ad-detection tool for businesses to find and monitor their competitors’ advertising activity and plan how they should respond.
“These companies use our technology to automatically understand what (ads are present) and which specific brands so that brands can now start analysing competitive brands and see how present they are,” Boschin says.
LogoGrab employs 12 people out of its small office on Hatch Lane in Dublin 2 but will be moving on to a new space beside the Vicar St. venue on Thomas St. later this month. It also has a presence in New York through Bank of Ireland’s Startlab programme.
Since Boschin and Prest came to Ireland, the company raised a further €1.5 million in 2016 from investors including Act Venture Capital.
“In 2019, we closed with €3.5 million in sales. That was 98% year-on-year growth from 2018.
Boschin tells Fora that the company is now moving from the “are we going to make it, are we not going to make it?” startup phase to one “where it’s very clear that there’s a market and the company’s doing very well”.
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Written by Jonathan Keane and posted on Fora.ie
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Really worthwhile work. The anti vaccine line throughout the world is causing so many unnecessary deaths and illnesses. I’d happily donate to any group that educates and thus saves lives.
The keyboard warriors with a degree in Googling are in my opinion directly responsible for so much pain and suffering.
Ha. I like you. I award you my highest honour; a bag of tayto and a bottle of coke
“Commonsense”
In 2004 the CDC did a study on a possible link between Autism and the MMR vaccine. William Thompson was the primary scientist and author of the study. The study was released advising that there is no link between autism and the MMR vaccine. Last year Mr. Thompson went public and admitted that the higher ups in the CDC put pressure on him to falsify his results. The real results along with other documentation released to the public by Mr. Thompson showed that there was a 345% increase in the risk of autism when taking the MMR. A director at the CDC Dr. Julie Gerberding pushed through the fabricated results and received a top job at Merck in 2009. Autism used to affect 1 in 20,000 over 50 years ago, it now affects 1 in 50. Can you advise what could have possibly caused this massive increase?
Your “common sense” approach to people who do their own research is ridiculous. Your theory is : vaccines are great and anybody who questions their legitimacy is a fool. Do you think there’s even a small possibility that multi-billion dollar pharma companies don’t have out best interests at heart?
I believe in double blinded clinical trials. I believe in regulation.
I understand that the sheer numbers of people needed to be complicit to have a conspiracy of the magnitude you are suggesting renders it de facto impossible.
I believe your tactic of looking for a tiny doubt and then extrapolating an entire position is disingenuous and dangerous. There is a reason we have experts and a scientific consensus. Google theorists just don’t have the knowledge to draw the conclusions that they do.
Pfffft ‘vacines cause autism’ sure everyone knows wifi causes it.
My tactic?
I was simply pointing out a case where a renowned scientist admitted that he falsified his own data to disprove a link between autism and MMR. Can you comment on this?
I noticed the headline has changed in this article aswell. It was something like “irish people helping convince Africans that the Ebola vaccine is safe.” If it was safe, you wouldn’t have Africans avoiding this vaccine at all costs and running away from the Red Cross.
You don’t believe there could be a conspiracy because too many people would be involved. How many people were involved in Nazi Germany or Maoist China? They did it because the state convinced them it was the right thing to do.
Did you not hear recently that 13 Italians died after taking the flu vaccine? Why does Bill Gates have so much money in vaccination and GMO’s? Go and read a book you Yes man. History has taught you nothing.
The different with the nazis was that it wasn’t a secret. Humans are notoriously bad at keeping secrets and the amount of people that would need to keep the secret you are suggesting makes it impossible in my view.
As for your single example of a guy saying something, to me it’s just that. I accepts double blinded repeated studies, and the scientific consensus. One guys so called confession doesn’t count for much against that.
I’m afraid you havnt got the knowledge to make the claims you do. And personal insults are usually indicitive of a losing arguement.
What if the cure is already available.
And Ebola was created by the big drug companies just to make money or population control?
What if you are talking complete nonsense?
What if irresponsibly throwing out stupid questions is actually harmful given the amount of people refusing vaccinations these days?
What if an imuno-compromised child dies after coming into contact with a non vaccinated child with a preventable illness?
Sigh. Go and look up the definition of Mount Stupid on Urban Dictionary. Your comment is a particularly shining example of why people really shouldn’t talk about what they don’t understand.
The first case of Ebola was discovered in 1976 which was 39 years ago.
They are hardly going to pull a rabbit straight out of the hat after playing about with it for 39 years.
39 = 13 + 13 + 13
I have a gut feeling that Ebola Vaccine is either going to leave a sour taste or a microchip.
Sometimes I wonder are you playing with the full deck. That’s 13+13+13+13 in your language.
If rate scientific knowledge as far more credible than your ‘gut’ feelings Frank. It’s like you’re speaking a different language. Nonsenseeese
Whoa, wait one minute, if you assign numerical values to letters in the order they appear in the alphabet….what is ((N+K+F)-R)/A?….sweet Jesus, it’s a Zionist conspiracy!!!
There has been sinister activities going on with Ebola particularly across the Atlantic, carelessness, incorrect information, (From the President of all people) lies and more lies and on top of all that a sudden main stream media black out. I actually do believe Ebola is a US developed biological weapon yet to be released. So much evil has come out of that countries administration since WW2 nothing would surprise me.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/10/24/383423/ebola-mere-lie-fabricated-by-us-media/
I believe that you believe that Frank. I also bet you have a lot of other Fringe beliefs. It’s amazing that it’s not one of the numerous lifetime scientists or academics that has figured out what’s really going on. You have managed to be the one to figure it all out, and with only an internet connection. Bravo.
Common sense _Did you know that the first outbreak of Ebola in America was in 2014 which was 666 years since the 1348 Black Death took off in Europe.
Even if that true Frank it is utterly meaningless.
commonsense_ Meaningless to yourself but not to others.
The Atom Bomb on Hiroshima proves that occult numerology is used to carry out evil actions. .
America was founded on July 4, 1776
From July 4th 1776 to July 4, 1945 equaled 169 years = 13 x 13 years.
33 days after 4 July 1945 is the 6th August 1945 the day the atom bomb was dropped.
Add up the date the atom bomb was dropped = 08/06/1945 = 0+8+0+6+1+9+4+4+5 =33
The 33rd parallel runs exactly between Hiroshima and Nagasaki = 33
Harry S. Truman, 33rd President and 33rd degree Mason initiated the Nuclear Age.
This is the funniest thing I’ve ever read. Thanks Frank.
Frank is the journal’s biggest Troll. We have to stop engaging him!
Podge and rodge were on about ebola years ago. I serously went and looked it up when it first hit the news because I’d only ever heard of it before from them. So ya it’s been around for quite a long bloody time.
Ciaron Cullin_I wouldn’t joke about this type of stuff.
Domascus also sits on the 33rd Paralell.
“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap”. Isaiah 17 vs 1
Numerology is the abuse of mathematics! Has no basis in reality and calculates the square root of F all
The fact that you can’t spell Damascus properly even though it’s in your cut and paste quote says a lot Frank!
Justin Mc Nulty its bad enough having “Je suis Charlie” freedom fascists on board the Journal without having Grammar NAZIS. You no doubt are both of them.
Frank, you really should watch the movie A Beautiful Mind. After watching you can either conclude you need a job in the CIA or, sadly, medical attention.
Justin Mc Nulty_ The subject of numerology is like a red rag to a bull when brought up to the site shills.
MH17 Shot down 17/7 ….17 hostages …getting the drift.
BTW the number 33 and 17 is written all over Ebola
http://obama793.com/2014/11/02/the-demonic-number-33-is-everywhere-in-ebola/
http://obama793.com/2015/01/16/ebola-and-the-number-17-what-the-fuxk-is-all-this-about/
Frank numerology is a complete load of shite. The word ‘coincidence’ exists to explain things like this. Simple coincidences. Let me give you an example that I just made up;
Ebola = 5+2+15+12+1 = 35
USA (the people who created Ebola) = 21+19+1 = 41
Zaire (home of first outbreak in 1976) = 26 1 9 18 5 = 59
35+41-59 = 17
17!
We all know that 17 is a magic number from the link you shared earlier – http://obama793.com/2015/01/16/ebola-and-the-number-17-what-the-fuxk-is-all-this-about/
Coincidence?
I don’t think so.
John B_Medical Attention has obviously never worked for you.
Ciaran Cullan_ You must add up the combined total of the three to get the result.
Ebola Usa Zaire in common = 810 or 9 if reduced
“Ebola Usa Zaire” in Ordinal Equals = 135 or 9 if reduced
Not really Frank but it looks like I hit a raw nerve. Has numerology ever been used to predict anything or just applied retroactively to prove nothing. Can you run a few numbers there and tell me what’s gonna happen in mid july? No.
Justin McNulty_ In this case as I have proven it is the constant repetition of the numbers 7 and 17 and more importantly 33 in news articles on the subject of Ebola.
In the following AFP article alone: http://www.thejournal.ie/dr-congo-ebola-1782095-Nov2014/
Ebola in English Gematria = 210 ..A Number divisible by 7
21-day incubation period… A Number divisible by 7
42 days after the last recorded case ..A Number divisible by 7
49 lives ….A Number divisible by 7
280 deaths up until now…A Number divisible by 7
Retrospective application of numbers patterns Frank, which can predict f all, anyone with a basic understanding of maths knows that number patterns exist everywhere. Here’s my latest equation Frank + numerology = no girlfriend
So what vaccine have you got?? Maybe I’m slow but I’m not aware of any vaccine against Ebola yet??
So Kerry, you couldn’t find it as one of the top three hits on Google therefore it doesn’t exist?
What we should be worried about,is when you see trained medical people,who are well versed,in the use of protective clothing,catching,and dying from this disease.
Frank…
To my eternal shame,I’m drawn to your comments on the Journal…its a bit like looking at a hamster running on a wheel-fascinating in its idiocy.
I actually red thumb your comments before I even read them,these days though,because I know i’ll red thumb them after I’ve read them anyway..
If you are nothing more than a narcissistic,attention seeking troll then your efforts are almost to be admired…but if you actually believe in anything you write on the Journal,then ouch! I feel for ya buddy!
i can not imagine why anyone would have concerns about ebola or big pharma. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/28/serious-fraud-office-investigates-glaxosmithkline
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-idu2RUbKpY&index=10&list=PLJgDzB_Zc6TKfg8-xurMotQEjKrtOrbdk
oh wait…….
have your say