TL;DR:
- HealthifyMe, a leading Indian health and wellness startup, has introduced Snap, an AI-powered feature for recognizing Indian food from images.
- Snap allows users to effortlessly track calorie intake by capturing meal images and automatically identifying food items.
- Privacy is maintained as the AI model operates on the user’s device and only sends data to servers for precise dish recognition.
- The feature currently recognizes 150,000 Indian food items and boasts 60–70% accuracy, with plans to increase accuracy to over 80%.
- HealthifyMe faces competition from companies like Samsung Food and Snapcalorie in the AI-powered food recognition market.
- The company plans to expand its food logging options, including a voice input feature and enhancements to its AI-powered assistant, Ria.
- With over $130 million in capital raised, HealthifyMe offers a range of subscription plans catering to diverse user needs, including AI-based fitness and nutrition assistance.
Main AI News:
Indian health and wellness startup HealthifyMe has unveiled a groundbreaking AI-powered feature aimed at revolutionizing calorie intake tracking for Indian cuisine enthusiasts. This innovative addition, aptly named Snap, harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to automatically identify and log Indian food items from images, offering users a more efficient way to monitor their dietary choices.
Navigating the diverse landscape of Indian cuisine presents unique challenges due to the rich variety of culinary offerings. Complicating matters further is the traditional Thaali, a multi-compartment plate commonly used in Hindi cuisine, which features an array of different food items in varying portion sizes. HealthifyMe’s AI model rises to the occasion by not only recognizing this diversity but also quantifying portion sizes accurately.
Snap empowers users to snap photos of their meals, prompting the app to identify the food items within the frame. Alternatively, users can grant access to their photo galleries, allowing the app to automatically scan food images. Later, users can review these images and the identified food items at their convenience, making calorie tracking effortless. This flexibility enables users to capture moments with their cameras and deal with the nitty-gritty of calorie logging at their convenience.
Addressing privacy concerns, HealthifyMe emphasizes that the AI model operates directly on the user’s device, detecting food pictures and then forwarding them to servers for precise dish recognition. The gallery-based approach stands out as it grants the model more time to recognize food items compared to the instant image capture option.
When multiple items appear in a single image, Snap prompts users to select each item for calorie tracking. An adjustable rectangular box ensures precision in isolating different food items within the frame.
Tushar Vashisht, Co-founder & CEO of HealthifyMe, highlighted the company’s evolution from a food-tracking app nearly 11 years ago, with meal tracking remaining a primary use case for free users. Vashisht acknowledged the challenges associated with manual food tracking, citing the need to type and remember each entry. Snap was conceived as a solution to enhance user retention and engagement.
Vashisht noted that HealthifyMe had explored image-based food recognition in the past, but recent advancements in generative AI models paved the way for Snap’s development. The feature is currently trained to recognize a staggering 150,000 Indian food items.
HealthifyMe boasts an impressive 60–70% accuracy rate in automatically recognizing food items. In instances where the model falls short, users receive helpful suggestions regarding the unidentified food items. The company employs human reviewers to rectify false recognitions, and users can manually tag these erroneous photos to contribute to model improvement. Vashisht expressed confidence that the model’s accuracy will exceed 80% within the next month.
It’s worth noting that HealthifyMe faces competition in the realm of AI-powered food recognition. Samsung’s meal planning platform, Samsung Food, plans to introduce a similar feature in the coming year. Meanwhile, Snapcalorie, a startup founded by former Google Lens engineer Wade Norris, is also tackling this challenge with backing from prominent investors like Y-Combinator, Index Ventures, and Accel.
In the coming weeks, HealthifyMe intends to expand its food logging options. With Snap’s launch, users can send food images to HealthifyMe via WhatsApp or tag them for analysis. The company is also actively developing a voice input feature and enhancing its existing AI-powered assistant, Ria.
HealthifyMe, which has secured over $130 million in capital from investors including LeapFrog Ventures and Khosla Ventures, offers a basic paid plan starting at $4.80 (₹399) per month, providing users with access to an AI-powered fitness and nutrition assistant, meal planning tools, and a treasure trove of healthy recipes. Additionally, the company offers pro-paid plans, commencing at $48 per month (₹4,000), offering advanced features like an AI-based meal planner, dedicated nutrition and fitness coaches, and a cutting-edge smart scale.
The upper tiers of the Pro plans deliver even more value, including multiple doctor consultations, metabolic panel tests, and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices. With over 200,000 subscribers, nearly 40% of whom have opted for the Pro plan, HealthifyMe is rapidly transforming the health and wellness landscape. In 2020, the company teamed up with Indian food delivery giant Swiggy to curate healthy meal options and restaurant choices. Furthermore, HealthifyMe is actively exploring collaborations with various food and grocery services to leverage its pioneering technology.
Source: HealthifyMe
Conclusion:
HealthifyMe’s innovative AI-powered food recognition technology represents a significant advancement in the Indian health and wellness market. This user-friendly solution addresses the challenge of tracking diverse Indian cuisine and enhances user engagement. As competition in AI-powered food recognition grows, HealthifyMe’s commitment to improving accuracy and expanding features positions it as a key player in this evolving landscape, poised to continue transforming the market and shaping the future of dietary tracking and wellness solutions.
