Microsoft Attempts AI Again With The Photo-Explaining CaptionBot

Microsoft is really eager to show off their AI skills, having boldly launched artificially intelligent photo reader CaptionBot just one month after its Tweeting bot Tay endured a public, tyrannical meltdown.

CaptionBot, from Microsoft’s Cognitive Services team, is less interested in sharing questionable political views as it is keen to guess the content of your photos.

You simply upload a photo to CaptionBot and, thanks to its knowledge of “a broad range of visual concepts”, it comes back with a written description of what’s going on.

Or, in its own words: “I can understand the content of any image and I’ll try to describe it as well as any human. I’m still learning so I’ll hold onto your photo but no personal info.”

Sometimes, CaptionBot gets pretty close.

Sometimes, it takes a punt and you have to respect that.

Sometimes, it doesn’t quite know what to do with itself.

Most importantly though, it’s not saying a bunch of upsetting things on Twitter. This is an improvement!

Photo: Composite by Student Edge / Microsoft / HBO.