Rahul Garg

AI Researcher

San Francisco, California, United States18 yrs 6 mos experience

Highly Stable

Key Highlights

Over 15 years in computer vision R&D.
Led innovative projects at Google improving video features.
PhD in Computer Vision from University of Washington.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a B2C Computer Vision and Machine Learning expert focused on enhancing user experiences.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Machine LearningComputer VisionComputational PhotographyHand TrackingGesture DetectionGesture RecognitionAlgorithm DevelopmentAndroid DevelopmentPrototypingFeature MatchingReconstructionFractal FeaturesStatistical Analysis

Other Skills

C++PythonDjangoMatlabObjective-CJavaScriptAndroid

About

I have over 15 years of experience in research and development in computer vision, especially productizing cutting edge computer vision research into delightful features and products. Previously, I was a Senior Staff Research Scientist / Manager at Google Labs, where I led a team of researchers and engineers that use computer vision and machine learning to improve videos. At Google, I worked on a number of features for Google Pixel, Google Photos / Picasa, Google Meet, Google AR/VR and YouTube. These include Portrait Mode and AutoFocus on Pixel phones, Portrait Blur and Magic Eraser for Google Photos, Face Movies for Picasa, Studio Look, Dynamic Tiles and face detection for Google Meet, and Hand Tracking for AR/VR. Before Google, I was one of the first employees at Flutter, a startup acquired by Google. I completed my PhD in Computer Science and Engineering at University of Washington. In past life, I spent four wonderful years at IIT Delhi where I got my Bachelors degree and graduated with President's Gold Medal.

Experience

18 yrs 6 mos

Total Experience

3 yrs 6 mos

Average Tenure

1 yr 9 mos

Current Experience

Netflix

Principal Engineer

Jul 2024 – Present · 1 yr 9 mos

ML/AI for Studio and Creative Production

Google

4 roles

Senior Staff Research Scientist / Manager, Google Labs

Promoted

Mar 2021 – Jun 2024 · 3 yrs 3 mos

Using ML / Computer Vision / Generative AI to improve videos for various Google products, e.g., Meet and YouTube. Grew team from scratch and started multiple 0->1 projects. Some of the launched projects include Studio Look for Google Meet, and Dynamic Tiles / Face Detection for Google Meet Rooms.

Machine LearningComputer Vision

Staff Research Scientist, Google Research

Jan 2017 – Mar 2021 · 4 yrs 2 mos

Cutting-edge computational photography for Google Pixel phones and Google Photos. These
include Portrait Mode for single and dual-camera phones, Portrait Blur for Google Photos, Auto-focus for Nighsight, and Magic Eraser. These were highlighted in Pixel ads and made it the top performing smartphone camera for several years in a row.

Computational PhotographyMachine Learning

Senior Research Scientist, Daydream (Google VR)

Jun 2015 – Jan 2017 · 1 yr 7 mos

Co-founded the hand tracking team building real-time hand segmentation and tracking using CNNs.

Hand TrackingComputer Vision

Research Scientist, Google Research

Oct 2013 – Jun 2015 · 1 yr 8 mos

Low power, real-time hand gesture detection for Google hangouts running in browser.

Gesture DetectionComputer Vision

Flutter

Research Engineer

Apr 2012 – Sep 2013 · 1 yr 5 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco based startup building gesture recognition technology acquired by Google. Our Mac app to control media via gestures was rated 4.5+ and was among Apple's Best Apps of 2012. One of the first employees. Handled multiple responsibilities -- developed faster algorithms, automated training data collection, named co-inventor on 3 patents including a state of the art new image feature descriptor, developed across OSX, Linux, Windows, iOS, Android, NativeClient (Chrome), involved in hiring, mentored interns.
http://flutterapp.com

Gesture RecognitionAlgorithm Development

Google

2 roles

Software Engineering Intern

Jun 2011 – Sep 2011 · 3 mos · Greater Seattle Area

Prototyped an Android app that allows the user to take overlapping photos of the scene and browse them in an interactive viewer. US patent issued.

Android DevelopmentPrototyping

Software Engineering Intern

Apr 2010 – Sep 2010 · 5 mos · Greater Seattle Area

Prototyped, implemented and launched the "Face Movie" feature included in Picasa 3.8 in just 4 months. Extensively covered in press. Demo video has 1.5M+ views. Thousands of user created face movies uploaded to YouTube. US patent granted. Published at SIGGRAPH.

Computer VisionPrototyping

Microsoft research, redmond

Research Intern

Jun 2008 – Sep 2008 · 3 mos · Greater Seattle Area

Designed custom features for matching and reconstruction of man made scenes from photos.
Mentor: Dr. Richard Szeliski

Feature MatchingReconstruction

University of washington

Graduate Student

Sep 2007 – Jun 2012 · 4 yrs 9 mos · Greater Seattle Area

Developed algorithms for automatically creating interactive visualization of scenes from photos. Published at top tier Vision and Graphics conferences (ICCV, CVPR, SIGGRAPH).

Algorithm DevelopmentComputer Vision