Pond5 Launches New Artificial Intelligence Visual Search for Videos

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by Yossy MendelovichApril 5^th, 2018

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Pond5, a content marketplace for high-quality royalty-free video, has developed a new AI (Artificial Intelligence) search engine that allows users to search by images instead of words. 

As stated by Pond5,

The artificial intelligence that drives Pond5 Visual Search gives customers the ability to show, rather than tell, what they’re looking for. Eliminating the difficult task of trying to put a visual concept into words, Visual Search delivers instant results for licensable media with a similar look to any file a customer chooses. 

“Neural network” 

This technology recognizes patterns in shape, color and composition, and compares them to the tons of images and clips that already exist on the Pond5 platform in order to find similar results. 

Pond5 calls it a “neural network”. According to the company the technology is a patent-pending AI-based Visual Search engine which gives users the ability to discover media based on existing imagery. 

As explained by Lawrence Lazare, Sr. Director, Product Management at Pond5,

Our team used state-of-the-art deep-learning techniques to build and train a neural network that allows users to search Pond5 using visual assets that inspire them…By adding AI-based search into our industry-leading search experience, we also vastly reduced the amount of time it takes to find the perfect video clip, photo, or illustration.

Browser Extension

The browser extension application is a part of the new AI visual search, and is available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.  It lets users use any video or image they find on the web to search for similar video and image results on Pond5.

Visual Search on Mobile Devices

Visual search is also compatible with mobile devices, which means it gives users the ability to search for media using a smartphone’s camera, or simply media uploaded from their camera roll. 

Watch the short video below to discover more about the AI visual search options:

Content Partnership with DJI

Apart from the tech innovations, Pond5 announced a collaboration with DJI to develop a premium collection of licensable aerial footage from FAA Certified Pilots and Filmmakers. This footage has to be captured with DJI drones and will be especially promoted on Pond5’s marketplace.

As explained by Pond5 CEO Jason Teichman:

Drones have become powerful tools for storytellers, providing a cost-effective alternative for gathering aerial footage. They’re able to capture rapidly unfolding events and reach locations that would be otherwise inaccessible, costly, or dangerous…As the world leader in their space, DJI is the ideal partner to bring the best in contemporary aerial footage to our marketplace.

Take a look at the aerial Pond5 -DJI sample below:

Only pilots with a Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is required for commercial use, will be eligible to have their footage included in this series of collections shot exclusively with DJI drones.

If you’re authorized for commercial use of aerial photography and interested in applying, submit your details in this form. 

Final thoughts

Of course the main achievement here is the artificial intelligence visual search for videos, which grants users the significant advantage to search smartly by imagery instead of regular engines based on tags and keywords. The search for the right footage based on shape, pattern, color and composition is the most logical way to explore the desired visual content on this kind of media marketplace, especially for filmmakers.  The question remains here how valuable this tool will be in practice – time will tell. 

What do you think about this AI visual search? Would you use it or maybe the regular “old style” search is preferable?