Improved Facial Recognition on Google+

By Marco A. Ayllon
Nautilus Technology News
July 25, 2011

Google acquired facial recognition software specialist Pittsburgh Pattern Recognition (PittPatt) Co., which was born from research at Carnegie Mellon University.

Pittsburgh Pattern Recognition (PittPatt), which makes facial recognition software that identifies users from images and video, was launched in 2004 by Henry Schneiderman, who performed his research both as a student and faculty member of the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute.
Facial recognition software can be an extremely sensitive topic, as Facebook learned in June when its social network users learned the company was using facial recognition to improve its photos product.

The PittPatt team explained in a note on its Website that it would use its computer vision technology and talent in applications that range from simple photo organization to complex video and mobile applications at Google.

"At Google, computer vision technology is already at the core of many existing products (such as Image Search, YouTube, Picasa, and Goggles), so it's a natural fit to join Google and bring the benefits of our research and technology to a wider audience," the PittPatt team wrote.
Thus, a Google spokesperson declined to say in what capacity the company would use PittPatt's software or talent to bolster specific Web services.

Google spokesperson told Nautilus Technology News: "The Pittsburgh Pattern Recognition team has developed pioneering technology in the area of pattern recognition and computer vision," and "We think their research and technology can benefit our users in many ways, and we look forward to working with them."