Highlights –

  • The AI automation will let Google provide its users with more accurate information.
  • Google will also provide details on store hour updates and real road conditions using AI and ML.
  • The tech giant promises to work on the project keeping in mind privacy concerns.

Google revealed that it would be using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a Machine Learning (ML) model to update opening hours and actual traffic information automatically.

These initiatives aim to provide users with more up-to-date information on neighborhood changes.

Harness the power of AI to gain more accurate insights

Research into AI has been happening since the 1950s but only recently has it started making deep learning breakthroughs. The reason is, ML advanced significantly after 2010.

“From my experience, I have seen that ML algorithms are no longer the bottlenecks. Granted, they’re far from perfect, and there’s a lot of work to be done, but that work is happening at breakneck speed,” said Edo Liberty, former head of Amazon’s AI lab and current CEO of Pinecone, a vector database for finding similarities, in a February 22 interview with the Search Engine Journal.

With a tremendous increase in big data, these advances are enabling AI to progress at an incredible speed.

Google uses AI to update store hours

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the way businesses operate, especially the hours for retailers and restaurants. Google has developed an ML model to keep up with these changes and improve the search engine experience for users. The new model can automatically identify whether the specified business hours are likely wrong.

After checking on incorrect hours, Google instantly updates the business’ profile with AI-generated predictions.

For example, a business profile mentioned that it is closed on Mondays but has not been updated for over a year.

If Google finds out that its busiest hours are usually Monday evenings, it will identify that the hours are likely outdated and will update them automatically.

Google also uses Street View imagery of the storefront to check opening hours signs, with the help of local guides and business owners to verify forecasts.

Google Duplex, an AI system, is used by business owners that enable people to have natural conversations and perform real-world tasks with computers over the phone.

Google believes that this technology will help it update the hours of more than 20 million businesses worldwide over the next six months.

ML updates real road conditions

Google is also trying its hands on other ways to use images for AI and ML. It plans to launch a third-party imaging pilot in the United States to provide the most up-to-date speed limit information.

This technology aims to improve driver safety and add details that can make driving more efficient. Google aims to eventually add information about potholes, school zones, and construction with this step.

Privacy focus remains high

For this pilot project, privacy is a key element. Only photographs from public highways will be used as references. Partners must also conceal identifiable information like as faces and license plates.

When Google receives an image, it blurs the photo and then deletes them after updating the maps.