Facebook is using AI to ensure 360 degree photos look their best

Facebook announced today that it is using artificial intelligence to make sure that 360-degree photos uploaded to the social network look their best when other people view them. The company laid out a system at its @Scale conference today that uses deep neural networks to try to correct for common orientation errors with the photos that are uploaded. If someone taking a 360 degree photo doesn't hold the camera perfectly in line with the horizon, the resulting image can be tilted, which makes it harder to read and breaks the sense of immersion if the image is being viewed in virtual reality. Facebook's system takes in a photo and outputs a pair of values for the tilt and roll correction needed to bring the horizon of the photo in line. That way, it doesn't feel like users are viewing a crooked image when they look around a scene.