Google Cloud launches AI dedicated to quality control and inspections

Google Cloud announced Tuesday the launched Visual Inspection AI, a new purpose-built tool to help manufacturers, consumer packaged goods companies and other businesses reduce product defects and quality control cut costs. Visual Inspection AI builds on Google Cloud's general purpose AI product, AutoML, which has been used for years in quality control operations. According to the American Society for Quality, product defects cost manufacturers billions of dollars annually. "Google Cloud's approach to visual inspection is the roadmap most manufacturing companies are looking for," Kevin Prouty, group vice president at IDC, said in the Google press release. "Manufacturers want flexibility, scale, inherent edge-to-cloud capabilities, access to both real-time and historical data, and ease of use and maintainability. Google is one of those companies that has the potential to bring together IT, OT and an ecosystem of partners that manufacturers need to deploy AI on the shop floor at scale."