What is Computer Vision?

Computer Vision is an AI field that enables machines to interpret and understand visual information from the world, including images and videos. It allows computers to identify objects, recognize faces, read text, detect anomalies, and understand scenes much like human vision.

For SMEs, computer vision offers valuable applications across industries. Retailers can use it for automated checkout systems and inventory management. Manufacturers can implement quality control inspection. Healthcare providers can assist in diagnostic imaging. Real estate companies can automatically tag and categorize property photos. Security firms can deploy intelligent surveillance systems.

Computer vision systems work by processing images through neural networks that have learned to recognize patterns and features. These systems can perform tasks like object detection (identifying and locating objects), image classification (categorizing images), facial recognition, optical character recognition (OCR), and image segmentation (dividing images into meaningful regions).

The technology has become increasingly accessible through cloud-based APIs and pre-trained models. SMEs can integrate computer vision capabilities into their applications without building systems from scratch. Common use cases include automated document processing, visual search, augmented reality experiences, and automated quality inspection. The key advantage is improved accuracy, speed, and consistency compared to manual visual inspection processes.