Quality Time Powered By AI
With the holidays upon us, people are gathering from near and far to spend time together and enjoy each other’s company. For some, however it’s not that easy to connect in person making virtual tools powered by AI a simple solution. Thanks to advances in computer vision, search relevance, and automotive technology, there’s plenty of ways people can connect both in person and virtually to spend the holidays the way they want, with the people who matter most.
DRIVE SAFELY
For some, the holidays include a long drive to visit others. With added traffic on the road and inclement weather conditions, it can become rather stressful. In recent years, automotive advancements have come a long way to improve in-cabin features, keeping the roads safer. BMW cars can communicate road conditions with each other and alert drivers of inclement weather in their vicinity, allowing enough time for appropriate measures to be taken. The technology behind this is swarm intelligence, as all BMW cars that meet specific requirements are automatically interconnected. When one car reports road conditions, others nearby are altered and can verify if they experience the same.
Not everyone has a companion for those long drives, and while voice control systems don’t supply the same company as a human, they are able to provide some assistance with bringing up directions, starting calls, and changing the radio station. Through voice recognition, the AI built into the car can understand requests and ask clarifying questions if needed. With AI taking car of directions and music, the driver is free to keep their eyes fully on the road.
FLY THE SKIES THE AI WAY
When planning a trip that requires air travel, decisions are made well in advance as flight prices are significantly higher during a peak travel seasons (i.e. the holidays). Rather than watching daily airfare shifts to secure the best price, travelers can now download an app or go online to Hopper for some AI assistance to determine the best time to book that ticket. Hopper can accomplish this because the AI model that provide the app its intelligence is trained on historical flight itinerary travel data. The program knows how much typical flights cost when purchased in a specific timeframe before the actual flight departure. Coupling that with current prices listed on websites, Hopper can tell vacationers if it’s better to wait or if they should book their flight today. It’s not just flights that Hopper helps with, but hotels and rental cars too.
VIDEO CALLS
One of the most common ways to stay connected is through a good old-fashioned phone call—whether through voice, or the more modern version, video. Video calls among family and friends have become more prevalent in recent years as technology to enable this kind of connection made rapid transformations through the pandemic. One common struggle, however, is keeping users in focus and in the viewable screen while talking. AI is now being paired with camera lenses through object detection and computer vision to help ensure speakers stay in view for the duration of the call. With this AI powered motion tracking, the camera follows the caller as they move about, so they never accidentally walk off screen. Companies like Pivo have created a device that even holds a mobile device, so users can talk hands free.
AI powered motion tracking is accomplished through a machine learning AI model that is trained with annotated video data. The data shows the model the human in the video and where they are as they move throughout the video. It also uses AI facial recognition to identify humans from inanimate objects. This technology also works if several people are video calling from one device. As seen with Apple’s development of Center Stage, the program not only tracks one person’s movement, but can also identify when more people enter or exit the area the call is taking place from and readjust the camera so that all
GIFT GIVING
Gifting is often at the top of the list of favorite holiday activities. It can also be the most challenging. With a little help from search relevance, Uncommon Goods is making finding the perfect gift a bit easier by providing gift suggestions that even the pickiest gift receiver will love.
The website is easy to use. Just enter the type of person you’re shopping for (kid, adult, parent, etc.) and select some of their interests from a list or type them in and then you’ll get a list of great ideas, like a raindrop cake kit for those that enjoy baking.
The AI behind this was trained on sourced data about common gifts given to give people based on their preferences. As the model was launched into the real world, it continued to learn from each user on the site and what they liked and disliked on the suggestions provided. This allowed the model to adapt and provide more suggestions based on what users liked, and hid the suggestions that users often disliked.
AI, it brings us together in more ways than one. Whether it’s helping plan a family trip, getting you there safely, letting everyone see each other on a video call, or making gift shopping a little easier, AI allows people to spend more time with those that matter most. We hope these AI powered technologies help you stay connected this season and throughout the year.