AI-powered Same Energy is a visual search engine designed to show you aesthetically similar photos

Canadian developer Jacob Jackson has created a new web tool for using visuals to search for images. The AI-powered tool, Same Energy, allows you to either search using text or using a pasted or uploaded image.

Once you have entered keywords or uploaded an image, Same Energy shows you relevant results. In the case of a keyword, you get images that match the keyword. For example, if you search ‘tiger,’ you see images of tigers. What makes Same Energy distinct is that when you upload an image or click on one of the image results, the tool then shows you visually similar images.

After searching ‘tiger,’ these are the initial results Same Energy delivered. Some results are, understandably, illustrations and drawings. I wanted to see wildlife photos of tigers, so I clicked on one of the images to initiate a new search for visually similar images.

To continue the example of ‘tiger,’ I clicked on a nice wildlife photograph of a tiger from the results and then was shown a mosaic of similar photos of tigers. I clicked on an image of a tiger in the snow and Same Energy displayed additional images of tigers in snow, plus other wild cats in snow, such as an image of a lynx, bobcat and a snow leopard.

You can see the image I selected in the top left corner of this screenshot. Many of the results show fairly similar results to the initial image, including with respect to overall color palette and even the pose of the tiger.

I queried ‘Grand Canyon’ and then clicked through on a lovely image with many purple and orange hues. Same Energy displayed many images with similar colors and some that were simply of the same subject.

After searching ‘grand canyon,’ I selected an image with a heavy emphasis on purple and orange. You can see those revised results here.

When you right-click on a particular image, Same Energy displays its source and creator when the data is available. Per Jackson, Same Energy relies upon the same precedent as Google Images and Bing Images. PetaPixel writes that Same Energy utilizes deep learning to produce its results and currently indexes about 19 million images shared on Reddit, Instagram, and Pinterest. The search tool operates without tags and metadata, relying instead only on images.

Results for ‘fall foliage’ on Same Energy

When you right-click on an image, Same Energy shows its source.

Of Same Energy, Jackson writes, ‘We believe that image search should be visual, using only a minimum of words. And we believe it should integrate a rich visual understanding, capturing the artistic style and overall mood of an image, not just the objects in it.’

If you want to try Same Energy for yourself, click here. The program is in beta but it works well so far. It could prove very useful for photographers looking for inspiration.

(Via PetaPixel)