American police received an AI tool that identifies a home from a single interior photo

Graylark Technologies has added to its Raven tool the ability to search for housing by interior photos. Access to the service, formerly known as GeoSpy, has already been acquired by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office, writes 404 Media.

In one of the demonstration videos, a user uploads a picture of a washer and dryer, taken from the social network X, and selects a search region. A few seconds later, Raven shows housing in the American city of Charlotte. Journalists found a corresponding listing on Airbnb: its photos show the same interior.

In another example, a photo of a bathroom leads to a house in Montecito, California, listed on Vrbo.

As shown in the video, Raven can find a specific home from a single interior photo without using coordinates or other metadata attached to the image.

It searches not only for identical photos but also for characteristic details of the room in other pictures. Therefore, the shots can be taken from different angles and at different times.

“For investigators working human trafficking and exploitation cases, this connection can turn an unidentified room into a location lead that they can verify and act on in an investigation,” wrote Graylark CEO Daniel Heinen.

Heinen recounted that the ability to recognize interiors initially surprised the developers themselves. During testing, he uploaded a selfie of his girlfriend in the bathroom, and the system identified San Francisco. After that, he tested it on photos from Zillow: according to him, in nine out of ten cases, the system correctly identified the city.

This does not mean that Raven can find every house in the world. Some functions use models trained for specific cities. For example, the Miami-Dade police received a model specially trained for that county.

Airbnb stated that it does not cooperate with Graylark and prohibits automated data collection from its website. The platform removes geodata from photos and only discloses the address of the accommodation to the guest after booking confirmation. Zillow also reported that such data collection violates its rules.

The practical results of the service are currently more modest than advertised. A representative from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office previously told 404 Media that the tool's use remained largely experimental and had not led to significant breakthroughs in investigations or arrests.

Initially, the service was available to almost anyone interested. But journalists discovered requests in the user community for help tracking women. After 404 Media requested a comment, the company restricted access to government agencies and corporate clients.

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