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Few artists enjoy such worldwide fame as Gustav Klimt. The new Google Arts & Culture online retrospective “Klimt vs. Klimt – The Man of Contradictions” puts the spotlight on the artist’s eclectic work and life. A Machine Learning experiment recolored photographs of lost Klimt paintings, while a “Pocket Gallery” brings some of his most iconic works into your living room in augmented reality and 3D. Together with more than 120 stories about his art and personality, a virtual tour of his studio, and many more highlights from the collections of over 30 cultural institutions around the world, “Klimt vs. Klimt” forms one of the most comprehensive online experiences about the artist.

Klimt’s legacy poses many unsolved questions, not least due to the fact that approximately 20% of his artworks were lost over the course of history. Among the most prominent and painful losses are the so-called Faculty Paintings, created on behalf of the University of Vienna and rejected by the latter for being overly critical towards science. In 1945, only days before the Second World War ended, the paintings were lost to a fire at Immendorf Castle in Austria. What these major works looked like could only be guessed at from black and white photographs taken in the early 1900s, unable were they to convey the magic that makes Klimt’s artworks so captivating — the bold colours, the revolutionary approach to textures, the shocking directness of his figures. Until today.

Using the opportunities offered by machine learning, enhanced by the knowledge of internationally renowned Klimt expert and curator at the Belvedere, Dr. Franz Smola, the team at the Google Arts & Culture Lab was able to reconstruct the colours that Klimt might have used for the Faculty Paintings, thus restoring them to their fully colored beauty. For the first time in 70 years, people can experience his artworks in the colors he might have used.

Experience the art of Klimt in new ways online

The paintings are the true centerpiece of “Klimt vs. Klimt”. The retrospective brings together more than 120 of the artist’s most famous masterpieces, as well as lesser known works, and assembles an expertly curated selection in an immersive Pocket Gallery that you can experience in augmented reality on mobile or in 3D on web. This was made possible thanks to a collaboration between Google Arts & Culture and over 30 partners and institutions – with the Belvedere, the Albertina, the Klimt Foundation, the Neue Galerie New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Arts among them. Over 60 masterworks by Klimt have also been captured in ultra high resolution with Google’s Art Camera. Come in closer to see “The Kiss” like never before!

Over guacamole and corn chips at a party, a friend mentions that her favorite phone game uses augmented reality. Another friend points her phone at the host and shouts, “Watch out—a t-rex is sneaking up behind you.” Eager to join the conversation, you blurt, “My blender has an augmented reality setting.“

If only you had looked up augmented reality in Google’s Machine Learning Glossary, which defines over 460 terms related to artificial intelligence, you’d know what the heck your friends are talking about. If you’ve ever wondered what a neural network is, or if you chronically confuse the negative class with the positive class at the doctor’s office (“Wait, the negative class means I’m healthy?”), the Glossary has you covered.

AI is increasingly intertwined with our future, and as the language of AI sneaks its way into household conversation, learning AI’s specialized vocabulary could be helpful to understanding many key technological advances — or what’s being said at a guacamole party.

A team of technical writers and AI experts produces the definitions. Sure, the definitions have to be technically accurate, but they also have to be as clear as possible. Clarity is rare in a field as notoriously complicated as artificial intelligence, which is why we created Google’s Machine Learning glossary in 2016. Since then, we’ve published nine full revisions, providing almost 300 additional terms.

Good glossaries are quicksand for the curious. You’ll come for the accuracy, stay for the class-imbalanced datasets, and then find yourself an hour later embedded in overfitting. It’s fun, educational, and blessedly blender free.

Argentina’s table is a journey through Argentina, an atlas of diverse recipes and ingredients with ancient and modern origins, following the many journeys of the immigrants who have brought so many influences and flavors to this special cuisine.

In collaboration with five cultural institutions including Gustar — an initiative of the Ministry of Culture, ArgenINTA Foundation, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Argentina — Google Arts & Culture’s latest project brings together all that Argentina’s gastronomic scene has to offer, from traditional fare to contemporary culinary trends.

Few gastronomic cultures in the world have as many globally-recognizable landmarks as Argentine cuisine: from “asado,” with its amazing high-quality beef and flame grilling techniques, or “empanadas,” a true icon that come in so many different recipes across the country to “yerba mate,” a ritual originated from an indigenous plant.

European influences and majestic landscapes

This multicultural country is a melting pot of flavors with surprising culinary encounters, made of traditional native dishes and delectable European influences, like the family favorites pizza and pasta. Over the years, immigrants have shaped Argentine food culture into the diverse field it is today.

But food is also an integral part of the incredible Argentinian landscapes: For example, the astonishingly beautiful views of Patagonia are home to mountains and icebergs, where seafood, lamb, fruit and chocolate are produced. In Argentina’s capital people find the rhythm of tango and the chatter from the cafes of Buenos Aires embedded in the food.

Regional fare

Google Arts and Culture’s latest project not only dives into the lively food scene of Argentina, it also explores the richness of its people. The country is in fact a producer of high quality products that serve as the basis for its notable dishes. See, for example, oranges in the Littoral region, cassava flour in Misiones province in the northeast or honey in Santiago del Estero.

Today, the world has the opportunity to sit down at Argentina’s table, a place for celebrations, gathering and integration of diversity.

I sincerely hope you enjoy it. Bon appetit!

Play Pass launched two years ago to offer a new way to experience Google Play. Subscribers have enjoyed all-you-can-play access to hundreds of games and apps, completely free of ads or in-app purchases, with new titles added monthly. And we’ve been pretty busy since then. Play Pass is now available in 90+ countries and after launching with 350+ titles, we’ve added nearly 600 more to make your subscription even better with new content to discover every month. This includes 100+ teacher-approved titles, giving parents and kids access to great games and learning apps completely free of ads or in-app purchases.

To celebrate the past two years, we’re highlighting 10 titles we think best show what Play Pass has to offer. If you want to keep the party going, you can dive into our full catalog of 950+ titles, and check out the new additions every month.

10 titles we ❤️

Editor’s note: Today at Google for Africa, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a $1 billion investment in Africa over five years to cover a range of initiatives, from improved connectivity to investments in startups. Below is an edited transcript of his remarks. Watch the full event above or on YouTube.

There is so much momentum happening across Africa, and we’re excited to showcase it at our first Google for Africa event.

Of course, there are also significant challenges. The pandemic continues to deeply impact communities across the continent and around the world. I hope everyone is taking care during these difficult times.

One thing we’ve seen is how technology can be a lifeline, whether you are a parent seeking information to keep your family healthy, a student learning virtually or an entrepreneur connecting with new customers and markets. Being helpful in these moments is at the core of our mission: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Expanding opportunity through technology is deeply personal to me. That’s because I grew up without much access to it. Every new technology — from the rotary phone to the television — changed my family’s life for the better. That’s why I’m a technology optimist. I believe in how people can harness it for good.

I see so many examples across Africa today, whether it’s startups like Tambua Health that are using machine learning to help doctors diagnose and treat diseases, or entrepreneurs like Tunji, whom I had the chance to meet when I was in Lagos in 2017. His company, Gidi Mobile, is helping low-income students in Nigeria access online learning.

Increasingly we are seeing innovation begin in Africa, and then spread throughout the world. For example, people in Africa were among the first to access the internet through a phone rather than a computer. And mobile money was ubiquitous in Kenya before it was adopted by the world.

This momentum will only increase as 300 million people come online in Africa over the next five years. Many of them are young, creative and entrepreneurial, and they’re ready to drive new innovation and opportunity across the region.

It’s been incredible to see the rapid pace of change in a short amount of time, and be a partner on that journey. Since we opened our first offices in Africa, we’ve enabled 100 million Africans to access the internet for the first time and empowered millions of businesses and creators with digital tools.

A big focus has been on expanding opportunity through digital skills. In 2017, we committed to help 10 million Africans get the digital skills they need to grow their careers and businesses. So far, we’ve trained six million people. We’ve also trained 80,000 developers from every country in Africa and supported more than 80 startups to raise global venture capital funding, creating thousands of jobs.

In 2018, we opened an artificial intelligence research center in Accra. The team is focused on solving challenges relevant to Africa and the world, like using AI to map buildings that are hard to detect using traditional tools and adding 200,000 kilometers of roads on Google Maps.

And we continue to build for Africa’s unique needs. Products like Android Go and Files Go ensure that everyone can have a great smartphone experience. On YouTube, we are supporting Black creators and artists with our Black Voices Fund.

These are just a few examples of how we’re investing in, and building for, Africa. We know there’s more we can do to help bring the benefits of technology to more Africans.

So today I’m excited to announce that we plan to invest one billion dollars in Africa over five years. It will cover a range of initiatives, from improving connectivity to investing in startups.

These investments will support the continent’s digital transformation in four key areas:

• Enabling affordable access and building products for every kind of African user.
• Helping businesses with their digital transformation.
• Investing in entrepreneurs to spur next-generation technologies.
• Supporting nonprofits working to improve lives across Africa.

As we make these investments, we know we can’t do this alone. We look forward to partnering with African governments, policymakers, educators, entrepreneurs and businesses. We have so much opportunity ahead as Africans shape the next wave of innovation. Thank you for the chance to be a part of it.