Microsoft improves its AI face and image recognition tools

Microsoft today announced several improvements to its pre-built AI tools for companies, with a focus on improving facial recognition, custom image classification, and understanding important entities. The updates are included in the company's suite of Cognitive Services -- APIs that help developers deliver intelligent capabilities even if they don't have a great deal of AI expertise. The three updated services -- Microsoft's Custom Vision Service, Face API, and Bing Entity Search -- are designed to make AI easier for companies that can't keep a professional data scientist on staff. That's important, given the limited number of AI experts currently available, how much they cost to hire, and how complicated the task of rolling your own AI capabilities can be. The Custom Vision Service is now in paid public beta.