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If you've ever seen a lamp or armchair that you liked and just wanted to take a photo and find it online, well, GrokStyle let you do it – and now the company has been seized by Facebook to increase its own growing computer vision department.
GrokStyle started out as a paper – as IA companies often do – at the 2015 SIGGRAPH. A grant from the National Science Foundation kicked off the company and, in 2017, founders Kavita Bala and Sean Bell have raised $ 2 million to grow it.
The basic idea is simple: combine a piece of furniture (or a fixture, or a variety of product types) in an image with similar images in stock in stores. Of course, sometimes the simplest ideas are the most difficult to execute. But Bala and Bell did everything to make it work, and it was so impressive in action that Ikea first asked for it to be in the next version of its application. I saw it in action and it's pretty impressive.
The acquisition of the company by Facebook (no conditions disclosed) makes sense in several ways: first, the company invests heavily in computer vision and AI, so GrokStyle and its founders are naturally potential targets. Secondly, Facebook is also trying to invest in its market and its use of the camera fits perfectly into the philosophy of the company.
One can imagine how useful it would be to be able to download the Facebook camera app, direct it to a lamp of your choice in a hotel and see who sells it or something like that on the site.
Facebook did not answer my questions about how the GrokStyle technology and team would be used, but stated the following: "We are delighted to welcome GrokStyle to Facebook. Their team and technology will contribute to our AI capabilities. "Well!
The GrokStyle website contains the message "Exciting Travel". The old site and the service disappeared for good. But it is badumed that it will reappear in one form or another. I asked the founders to comment and I will update the post if I heard it.
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