Yahoo today acquired LookFlow, a startup that was building new ways for people to find, explore, collect, and share content they’re interested in. The company used state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technology to deliver what it called “a revolution in online search and discovery.”
In other words, Yahoo is interested in LookFlow’s machine learning algorithms. Since the startup focused on images, it makes sense Yahoo will work on integrating the technology into Flickr.
“We have acquired LookFlow, an enhanced image recognition company,” a Yahoo spokesperson confirmed with TNW. “As part of the acquisition, we’re bringing five talented engineers and the technology they built into our Flickr organization in San Francisco.”
LookFlow is promising its product will appear “in future versions of Flickr” but naturally it won’t share in what capacity. Given that Flickr launched in February 2004, it was designed long before social sharing and viral propagation was the norm. As such, it has had difficulty keeping up with various competitors that have been designed from the ground up with discoverability in mind.
