Area 120, Google's "in-house incubator," has launched a document scanning app called Stack. The app uses Google's Document AI technology to scan and categorize documents. Stack is currently available to Android users in the USA.
Stack Uses AI to Make Document Scanning and Searching Easier
In a post on the Google blog, it's mentioned that the team at Area 120 created Stack by "applying DocAI's enterprise technology to personal documents."
To scan a document in Stack, users just need to click a picture of it using the app and the algorithm does the rest.
It automatically names the document as well as suggests a category depending upon the type of document. All of this is done to provide a more organized way of storing documents.
While there is no dearth of document scanning apps, Stack goes one step further by automatically identifying important information in the document. According to Google, this includes details such as "due date or total amount due." This allows for much faster searching.
Google's new experimental app can scan and categorize your documents https://t.co/Kn2UsioAjQ pic.twitter.com/lZwrd7jkKT
— Engadget (@engadget) March 30, 2021
When it comes to security, Stack protects your documents using "Google's advanced security and sign-in technology." Users can also opt to have an additional layer of security in the form of fingerprint and facial scanning when unlocking the app.
Additionally, Stack can also sync every document with Google Drive. This means that users won't lose important documents even if they decide to uninstall the app.
Stack Was the Idea of Socratic's Founder
Stack wouldn't exist if Google hadn't acquired Socratic, an education startup, in 2018.
This is because Christopher Pedregal, the founder of Socratic, is the team lead of Stack. With respect to the idea behind Stack, Pedregal says:
At Socratic, we used Google’s computer vision and language understanding to make learning easier for high school students. I wondered if we could apply the same technologies to make organizing documents easier.
An Intuitive Document Scanner by Google
Google has always been ahead of its competition when it comes to AI technology. Naturally, users can expect Stack to be a game-changer in the document scanning space.
Features such as automatic Google Drive sync and categorization allow Stack to edge ahead of other offerings in the space. Unfortunately, the app is only available to Android users in the USA, prompting iOS users to use other apps to scan their documents.
The team over at Area 120 have said that their algorithm isn't perfect but they're working to improve it each day. This means that users can expect new and better-optimized features in the near future.
