Microsoft Lobe Machine Learning Desktop App With Image Classification Support Now Available for Free

Microsoft has announced that Lobe, a machine learning tool which helps people apply deep learning and AI models quickly - without the need of writing code - into tools they are developing, is now available with image classification support. This essentially means that people can import images of the things they want Lobe to recognise, and the free app automatically selects the right machine learning architecture to begin training a machine learning model. The company says that it is making the app available today in public preview, and it can be downloaded on Windows or Mac computers for free.

“Today, Lobe supports image classification but plans to expand to other model and data types in the future,” Jennifer Langston, who writes about Microsoft research and innovation, said in a blog post. Lobe's visual interface allows developers to create apps with features such as reading handwriting, recognising hand gestures, hearing music, etc. You can download Lobe for Windows and Mac from the Lobe page.

Microsoft acquired the AI-focused firm Lobe back in 2018 as a part of its strategy and CEO Satya Nadella's vision to build AI into everything that the company makes. Lobe helps developers, as well as people who do not have any data science experience, to apply deep learning and AI models quickly into tools which can be used in industries like healthcare or agriculture. Lobe leverages the tech giant's AI research, global infrastructure, and developer tools.

Microsoft says that Lobe uses “open-source machine learning architectures and transfer learning to train custom machine learning models on the user's own machine”. The company claims that the data is kept private and there is no requirement of an Internet connection or logins. With image classification support, people can just simply import images of the things they want Lobe to be trained with, and the training is done automatically. Furthermore, it complements Azure AI's services for customers looking to leverage cloud computing capabilities, the company says.

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