The Google app finds the “art doubles” of pets

They say dogs look like their owners, but has your pet portrait already been painted by Picasso or Rembrandt?

by Google “Portraits of pets“uses machine learning to match pets with their” art doubles “held in the collections of institutions around the world.

The Furry Friends Matching Tool has been added to Google’s Arts & Culture app for Android and iOS.

A similar 2018 feature for human faces saw 120 million selfies loaded.

According to Google, a computer vision algorithm recognizes where your pet is and crops the image.

Thus, “a machine learning algorithm matches your pet photo with over tens of thousands of works of art.”

Users can tap on the results to learn more about the stories and artists behind each artwork.

To test the system, the BBC enlisted the help of Smudge, a four-year-old black and white cat owned by a staff member.

According to Google’s algorithm, Smudge closely resembles “Black Cat and Narcissus” – a hanging scroll by 19th-century Chinese artist Zhu Ling – currently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Image recognition is of increasing use to large tech companies, but Google’s culture app disclaimer suggests that pet images remain on the phone and are not used for any other purpose.

“Your pet photo is only used to find artwork that resembles your pet,” he promises. “Your photo is not being sent from your device and only you can see it unless you decide to share it.”