Meet 'SAM,' Meta's New A.I. Segment Anything Model That Can Pinpoint Any Item In Your Photos The new artificial intelligence model has the ability to identify various objects in images and videos.

By Sam Silverman

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Segment Anything Demo

Presumably, hundreds of thousands of Sams worldwide have a bone to pick with Mark Zuckerberg and Meta over its newest A.I. technology, SAM. (Or at least me).

Meta unveiled its Segment Anything Model "SAM" on Wednesday. The new technology has the ability to identify individual objects in images through what Meta says is the largest segmentation dataset of its kind. The tool can "segment" different items within pictures using a dataset of over 1 billion masks, or various objects, on 11 million licensed and privacy-respecting images, they said in a blog post.

However, they said SAM has been able to identify images it hasn't encountered in its training as well.

By clicking on objects in images or filling in the text prompts, SAM can identify them for you. For example, in one demonstration SAM drew boxes around several cats in a photo after the word "cat" was entered into the prompt.

Meta has already been utilizing technologies similar to SAM internally for tagging photos, moderating content, and suggesting posts to users. With the release of SAM, Meta hopes to increase access to similar broadscale and adaptable technologies, researchers said in a report.

RELATED: AI Could Replace Up to 300 Million Workers Around the World. But the Most At-Risk Professions Aren't What You'd Expect.

The SAM model and dataset are available for download under a non-commercial license, and while users can upload their own images, people must agree to use the tool for research purposes only.

It's unclear if Meta checked with the Sams of the world before unveiling the new technology's moniker, however, I, Sam Silverman, did not sign off on this. Here's hoping we Sams don't become the next Siri.

Sam Silverman

Content Strategy Editor

Sam Silverman is a content strategy editor at Entrepreneur Media. She specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), and her work can be found in The US Sun, Nicki Swift, In Touch Weekly, Life & Style and Health. She writes for our news team with a focus on investigating scandals. Her coverage and expertise span from business news, entrepreneurship, technology, and true crime, to the latest in entertainment and TV news. Sam is a graduate of Lehigh University and currently resides in NYC. 

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