Google Researching AI Technology That Counts Calories By Analyzing A Photo Of Your Food

Curious how many calories are in that plate of hot wings you’re ogling? Google may soon be able to tell you just by looking at a picture of it.

The Guardian reports during last week’s Rework Deep Learning Summit, Googler Kevin Murphy confirmed Google is researching AI technology that analyzes the depths of pixels in a food image to identify its shape and size, with the ultimate goal of determining the food’s calorie count.

Called Im2Calories, the technology uses what Murphy defined as “sophisticated deep-learning algorithms.” He admits, it isn’t an exact science, and that Im2Calories doesn’t offer specific calorie counts.

“To me, it’s obvious that people really want this and this is really useful,” said Murphy in The Guardian report, “Okay, fine, maybe we get the calories off by 20 percent. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to average over a week or a month or year.”

According to The Guardian report, Google has filed a patent for the technology, but a Google spokesperson told Cnet that Im2Calories is still in the research phrase, with no definite product plans right now.

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Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues is a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.