SearchResearch (11/13/25): How good is AI at recognizing images? What should you know?

 Recognizing images is an impressive AI feat.  But... 

Remarkable desserts. What are they? 

.... it's true that the state of the art of image recognition has changed over the past several years.  It gets better, it gets worse, the functionality changes, some things are removed, others are added.  

But it's still an amazing thing... IF you know what works and what doesn't now.  I'm afraid that means you have to stay up on what's going on in the world of image search.  So let's dive into it... 

Here are a few images that I'd like for you to identify--the key question for each is what's going on in this image?  What is it?  (And if you can, where is it?)  

For each image I've given you a link to the FULL image (no sneaky reduction in resolution or removal of metadata, as our blogging tools tend to do).  I recommend you use that image for your search.  

1. The image above (the dessert display) is from a cafe.  Can you figure out what KIND of desserts these are?  Yes, I know you can read the labels, but these are from a particular region of the world.  What kind of cafe is it?  (Image link to full image.)

2. Here's a photo I took while on a walk in San Francisco the other day.  What a strange, strange place!  It's clearly supposed to have a statue on top of the pedestal.  What happened here?  Why is it bereft?  (Image link)  

3. Here's a great picture of a cloud that Regular Reader Ramon sent in for identification.  What's going on here?  (Image link)  

P/C SRS Regular Reader Ramon

4. This little bridge is in a lovely town somewhere in the world.  Can you figure out where it is, and when it was built?  (Image link)

The point of this week's Challenge is to give you a bit of familiarity with the different image reco tools.  They're sometimes called "Reverse image search" tools, but as you'll find out, they have very, very different capabilities.  

When you write in to let us know what you found, be sure to (a) tell us what tools you tried, (b) if they worked well, and (c) whether or not you find the answer believable. 

Next week I'll write up my findings and summarize what everyone else found... along with a description of the tradeoffs involved in the different tools.  

Keep searching!