Google studies new methods to archive paper documents and, subsequently, search for text inside them.
In an increasingly dematerialized world, document archiving travels on digital. Despite this, there are still many paper documents that we have to manage on a daily basis: that's why Google has come up with a new tool to simplify the management and post-conversion search in electronic format, all based on AI.
It's called Stack and it's Big G's latest project based on the application of artificial intelligence. The principle of operation is simple: it involves transforming all documents, receipts and other types of paper material that you want to keep into a completely digital format. If this sounds like a system that has already been seen and exploited, the novelty must be found in the actual archiving system, based on artificial intelligence to allow simple and immediate organization and subsequent research.
Google Stack, how it works
Through its application, Stack allows users to take a picture of the document they want to archive, renaming it and suggesting the most appropriate name based on the textual content, and placing it in the correct category. As with traditional office folders, the app stores receipts in the "Receipts" folder, medical bills in the "Health" folder, and so on. In case of multi-page documents, Stack places all scanned data in a single PDF, which simplifies searching and keeps the entire content overview at your fingertips. Moreover, the user will be able to take advantage of the stars (as it already happens on other Big G services, such as Gmail) to highlight the most important scans.
Google Stack, this is how AI works
As we said before, what makes the difference is the AI system at the base of Stack that, by scanning the document, is able to intercept some key information in the text (such as the terminologies "payment date", "account number", "expiry date"). Moreover, the search is able to read directly inside the file, without limiting itself exclusively to the title that, although explanatory, can in some cases be misleading.
All this, then, is managed by a security protocol that includes face or fingerprint recognition, in line with what is already offered by Google Drive and Google Photos.
Google Stack, platforms and release times
In addition to the version already available for Android, the app may also be made for other platforms such as iOS in the future, based on user feedback. For now, Stack is only available for the green robot operating system, in free form, and downloadable for users accessing Google's store for the US.