If you’ve ready my recent article about Google’s problems of late, you’ll know that the company is spreading itself too thin across several projects. Another one of those seems to be Muze, a collaborative project with German company Zalando.
The project involves using Google’s the machine learning capabilities of TensorFlow, and what it does is create an ensemble based on trending fashions and learnings from the world’s top fashion experts. But it’s a dismal failure, apparently. We’ve all hear of tech wearables like Apple Watch, FitBit and so on. This is the first time you’re going to see what I’ll call…
Artificial Intelligence Unwearables
The dumbwear (as opposed to smartwear) designs that Muze has been coming up with include stuff that nobody in the world could have dreamed of. Well, nobody except Muze, maybe.
Here’s a great ensemble for men who want to give those “I’m a manta ray and I just got out of bed” vibes. You know you want it!
But wait, it’s not just for HIM. They’ve got a version for HER as well.
Well, at least this one’s going to make you look like a confused Flamenco dancer rather than a bleary-eyed creature of the deep. An improvement? Perhaps.
Now how about this one?
Sorry, but “trapped in the jungle with my jammies” is the only thing that comes to mind. Or maybe it’s a “carrot and creepers” theme. I just don’t know. And apparently, neither does Muze.
But wait, you haven’t seen the best one yet. Anybody who’s anybody would want to be seen in public looking like a piece of crumpled wastepaper, right?
Believe me ladies, you won’t have to worry about those extra unwanted curves showing in this dress. All straight lines. Perfect for that “trashy” look. Literally.
I really don’t know where Google is going with this project, but I hope this is just the “learning” part of machine learning. While IBM and Microsoft are working on projects that make your life simpler and your tasks faster, Google just wants you to look plain ugly.
On a More Serious Note…
In my previous article on Google I spoke about their need to focus on things they’re already good at and try to expand them into viable revenue streams. Every other tech company is doing this, and very successfully, too.
Facebook’s push into the video domain is clearly targeting the increase in video traffic on the web over the past several years.
Microsoft wants to be able to provide productivity tools and smart tech like the Windows 10 and Cortana-enabled refrigerator projects with LG and Liebherr.
IBM is moving heavily into the hybrid cloud and analytics space for enterprise level companies.
Amazon is already into smart gadgets for the home, business-to-business retail (Amazon Business), cloud infrastructure and a bunch of other things that
Even Apple, for that matter, is shifting its weight on to Apple Pay because of a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity. Every one of these companies is trying to leverage what they have and make the best of it so they stay relevant for several more decades.
Google is the only one of its peer companies that keeps spending money on “moonshot” projects that typically haven’t panned out for them. If they keep going this way with projects like Muze, they’re not going to have anything to show for their efforts.
To be fair, Google does have a really cool project called Jacquard where they are in collaboration with Levi Strauss and other apparel brands to produce smart clothes that can be integrated with your smartphone. These are the projects they should be doubling down on because artificial intelligence is right up their alley.
But instead of “artificial intelligence”, Google seems to be going for “natural stupidity”.
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