Try drawing a mermaid in 20 seconds, and you'll know why it is so cool.
Here’s the deal – we all love to doodle, and marvel at how our genius gives way to such marvellously pathetic pieces of art. Our optimism keeps us going through millions of doodles every day – from Donald Trump to ducks, we’ve drawn it all. Aptly seizing the moment, Google has introduced its neural network algorithm, Quick Draw, which gives you six objects to recreate with doodles, and never before have we been collectively doodling away with such vigour and enthusiasm.
It is not all that simple, though. The best of us have been failing to convince Google Quick Draw that what we drew was indeed a duck, and not a swan (how do you separate the two in a 20-second doodle, anyway?). We’ve also failed multiple times to recreate a quick, sharp mermaid, although Google seems adept at recognising (sic) apples. Quick Draw also happens to be quite witty, and in a set of bizarre requests, asked us to doodle bottlecaps, broccoli and bulldozers (excuse the alliteration).
It is actually quite interesting to see how the Quick Draw neural net ‘learns’. Once you are done attempting your six doodles, Quick Draw gives you results, from which you can click on each individual doodle. This further reveals your doodle, three results that the algorithm deduces from your doodle, and other doodles being submitted by others from around the world for the pertinent topic.
The Quick Draw neural network is yet another illustration of how neural networks are becoming more proficient, and can soon be used extensively in efficient automation of technical aspects. Underneath the fun, doodling interface is Google’s extensive data archive, which makes it easier for the company to ‘teach’ patterns to algorithms. Pattern recognition can also be used by Google to increase the efficiency of image searches and research on artificial intelligence.
Let’s not bore you more, though, and leave you to trying it out by clicking here. Send us screenshots of your best/worst doodle, and try beating this incredible feat of art that we have successfully produced:
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