Lobe

Lobe is a free, private desktop application from Microsoft that helps non-technical users train custom machine learning models with a simple visual interface. The app focuses primarily on image classification, allowing users to simply drag in a folder of photos and label them to begin the training process. Lobe automatically selects the right neural network architecture for the task and trains the model locally on the user's computer, meaning no data is ever uploaded to the cloud. This makes it an ideal tool for sensitive public good projects, such as researchers classifying plant diseases in remote areas or community groups identifying invasive species from camera trap footage. Once a model is accurate, Lobe allows for easy export to various formats, including TensorFlow and CoreML, so the "intelligence" can be used in mobile apps or on edge devices like a Raspberry Pi. The mission of Lobe is to make deep learning as easy as using a spreadsheet, empowering everyone to build solutions with AI.