AI and Detecting Cats

Photography

Last week, I looked at: if Google could identify a dog. I provided what I would consider one of the easiest image to identify a dog with https://www.sritch.com/photography/ai-detecting-dogs/. This week, I’ll see if Google’s Vision can identify a cat.

I used this photo of a cat, from a previous posting: https://www.sritch.com/cats/cat-cares-daisy/

dog
dog

The image cannot be any simpler:

  • It’s the head of a cat that takes about ½ of the whole image.
  • The rest of image is the cube/box that the cat stays in.
  • The head is clearly defined and not obstructed by anything.
  • It’s a black and white photo with some slight sepia toning.
  • Single subject: a cat
  • Background: none
  • Foreground: none

Here’s exactly what Google analyzed the image as:

The image shows a diagonally striped pattern in shades of purple. There are no discernible objects in the foreground or background; the pattern fills the entire frame. The lack of context makes it difficult to determine a location.

The photograph is devoid of any human presence. As such, there is no information to share regarding emotions, race, age, economic background, or any other detail related to people. The image was taken using a Canon EOS 7D Mark II. The time of capture is unavailable.

The slight variations in the shade of purple within the stripes are subtle and easily overlooked. Also, the consistent spacing and parallelism of the lines demonstrate a high degree of precision in the image’s creation, likely a digitally generated image rather than one depicting a physical object.

Google Vision API – December 2024

  1. This is Google’s analysis, word for word.
  2. Even the bolding is provided by Google.

Conclusions

  1. Google hasn’t figured out that this photo is the photo of a cat! Any human being above the age of 1 year old would immediately identify that it’s a photo of a cat.
  2. This is black and white image has a slight sepia toning to warm it up. There’s almost no purple in the sepia toning. I don’t understand why is Google “stuck” on the “shade of purple surface.” Here’s the exact formula for tinting, that I used, is:
  • 27% red
  • 24% green
  • 20% blue