Flickr AI Project

I wonder if anyone is using the flickr photo sharing database to train AI. It would be an amazing task to get an AI to play the flickr game fastr.

fastr selects a keyword then searches the flickr database using that keyword. It retrieves 10 images tagged with the keyword. One image at a time is exposed to the players. If a player guesses the keyword having been shown only one picture they get ten points. After two images they receive 9 points and so on down the line.

The game illuminates the difficulty of the image classification problem in computer vision. Maybe it's because I watched Robosapiens last night, but the game really got me thinking about robot vision.

Take this image as an example. It is tagged with dog, kyla, 2006, and Boston terrier. Dog and Boston terrier are derivable from the photo, but kyla and 2006 are not. So, the flickr database is probably not optimal for training image classification algorithms.

What can you tell from the photo: Dog, Chair, Boston Terrier, Fiberglas Chair, Orange Chair, indoor, hallway, shadow of photographer, subject illuminated from behind camera, dog seated, and dog alive. There is probably a bunch more information one can derive from the photo, but I'll stop.

A more useful database would be created if you could classify the image by indicating which parts of the image allow you to derive which information. Meaning maybe you could outline areas of the image and tag those areas. For example outline the dog and tag it: dog, dog seated, dog alive, and Boston terrier. Then outline the shadows and tag it: subject illuminated from behind camera.

Anyway, I find the whole problem intriguing.

Update: I guess there are some individuals that can derive the information kyla and 2006 from the photo. It's all a matter of perspective. For a personal robot that info would be relevant but for a generic system, not so much.

Tripod

The guys of tripod got game.

God of War Blog Buzz

God of War's reception of such acclaim is causing a little bit of a stir.

Some question the validity of the awards. Who paid what to whom to join this club or that association.

Then of course there are the people who agree with the praise:
Gamer's Journal
Chris vs. Free World
Jen Folds Five
Pixel Kill
Poly Cat
Foos Gaming

a tale of self discovery with Kratos:
Hataw

Then those who disagree:
No Faith - Believes Hulk should be game of the year.
Todd Gibson
Duct Tape Romance

More GOW Award Nominations


The AIAS has posted their award nominations!

God of War is up for 12:


  • Overall Game of the Year

  • Console Game of the Year

  • Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

  • Outstanding Achievement in Animation

  • Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction

  • Outstanding Achievement in Original Musical Composition

  • Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design

  • Outstanding Character Performance - Male

  • Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering

  • Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering

  • Outstanding Achievement in Game Design

  • Action/Adventure Game of the Year


Plus a quote from EGM:

"A game with soul that transcends borders and cultures. Its story, sense of world, and graphics gave me a strong, exotic impression. [Mario creator Shigeru] Miyamoto and I had a laugh when we first played the game. We noticed a very Japanese-like 'service' to gamers, in particular the emphasis on details and sense. The God of War package includes an honest presentation with love elements and a game design implemented with the player in mind. Lastly, the game was designed with a good balance of theme and play. I truly feel that God of War is a great culmination of Western and Japanese (i.e. Nintendo) game design. Let's hope this is just the beginning for this trend."
- Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima