• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechFortune 500

Box’s Deal With Google Involves a Lot of Machine Learning

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 17, 2017, 12:10 PM ET

People who use Box’s service to store their digital documents could find it easier to deal with files with lots of pictures.

The enterprise software company said Thursday that it’s now using Google’s (GOOG) image recognition technology to power a new service. That service is intended to help its customers who need to identify objects in photos and pictures in their online files.

Box (BOX) CEO Aaron Levie said that the service is suited for companies like retail shops that store images of their department store interiors and what to outline every detail in those photos. Before, those companies would have to use people to view each photo and manually label everything in it, like each individual item on a store shelf.

Levie pitched Box’s service as a faster way to do these kinds of mundane tasks that companies either assigned to low-level staff or bypassed altogether because of lack of resources.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

“Unfortunately, we are going to have to find some new roles for interns,” Levie joked.

Now, Box is using Google’s machine learning technology to sift through customer documents and automatically label images in their files. It’s one of the ways Box is using the various services of cloud computing providers like Google, Amazon (AMZN), and IBM (IBM) to augment its own service.

As of now, Levie explained, Google’s cloud service seems best suited for the task of image recognition—in part after roughly 15 years of Google honing its technology as part of its Google Image feature. Likewise, Amazon’s cloud computing service may be better suited for sifting and parsing meaning through audio files because of the work the company has done to improve its Alexa digital assistant, which understands and responds to people’s voices, he added.

In the long run, however, Levie expects these companies’ various image and audio recognition technologies to “largely equal out.” At that time, however, it’s likely these cloud companies will have another advantage over one another in some other future service, he speculated.

Levie did not say when the new image-recognition service would be released to the public, only that it’s currently testing the service with certain customers in what’s known as a beta test. Levie said he wants to make sure that the service’s accuracy rate at identifying objects is high enough before it’s ready for prime time.

These types of image recognition and other automated tasks, he continued, are examples of the type of tasks artificial intelligence technologies are currently best suited. “It won’t necessarily show up in some sort of magical robot or a [digital] assistant that can do anything,” he said in reference to AI’s current capabilities.

Instead, Levie concluded, machine learning presents “a lot of extremely pragmatic use cases” to automate and perform certain tasks at an “order of magnitude more accurately than a human can do.”

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
Fortune Secondary Logo
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

sarandos
InvestingMedia
3 things we will never know after Netflix pulled out of the Warner Bros. bidding, handing it to Paramount
By Nick LichtenbergFebruary 28, 2026
1 hour ago
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
AIAnthropic
OpenAI sweeps in to ink deal with Pentagon as Anthropic is designated a ‘supply chain risk’—an unprecedented action likely to crimp its growth
By Jeremy KahnFebruary 28, 2026
2 hours ago
Big TechAmerican Politics
Your spend as a ‘weapon’: Scott Galloway’s ‘Resist and Unsubscribe’ movement asks you to ditch Amazon, Apple, and Netflix to oppose Trump
By Kristin StollerFebruary 28, 2026
5 hours ago
world's fair
CommentaryRobots
Something big is happening in AI, but panic is the wrong reaction
By Peter CappelliFebruary 28, 2026
6 hours ago
AIMarkets
The week the AI scare turned real and America realized maybe it isn’t ready for what’s coming
By Nick LichtenbergFebruary 28, 2026
7 hours ago
AIFinance
She joined Block to build AI. Weeks later, AI cost her job.
By Sheryl EstradaFebruary 28, 2026
7 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
Japanese companies are paying older workers to sit by a window and do nothing—while Western CEOs demand super-AI productivity just to keep your job
By Orianna Rosa RoyleFebruary 27, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Walmart exec says U.S. workforces needs to take inspiration from China where ‘5 year-olds are learning DeepSeek’
By Preston ForeFebruary 27, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Law
China's government intervenes to show Michigan scientists were carrying worms, not biological materials
By Ed White and The Associated PressFebruary 26, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Commentary
'The Pitt': a masterclass display of DEI in action 
By Robert RabenFebruary 26, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of gold as of February 27, 2026
By Danny BakstFebruary 27, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Come 2030, the U.S. deficit will be worth 5.9% of GDP—more than spending on Social Security, and equal to major health programs
By Eleanor PringleFebruary 26, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.