Is Azure Vision API 4.0 product recognition being retired in Jan 25?

TimboBaggins 60

Hi,

I have just received a worrying email (see screenshot below), informing us that the ***Azure AI Image Analysis 4.0 API, including Product Recognition ***is to be retired in Jan 2025. Is this True?

Please can you confirm asap. We have built a production system based on the new 4.0 product recognition API, integrating with a bespoke training pipeline based on COCO files for training and labelling. This will be a huge problem for us to rework for the old Custom Vision service, as this does not use COCO files for training data?

Please can anyone confirm the plans and explain why? I cant find anything in the docs or blog posts relating to retiring this service.

I understood from ALL documentation that the old Azure Custom Vision was being REPLACED by v4.0 Vision APIs... why has this now been reversed??

Thanks

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TimboBaggins 60 Reputation points

2024-09-10T10:22:04.38+00:00

Please see this post from September 2023:

https://zcusa.951200.xyz/en-us/azure/ai-services/computer-vision/whats-new?source=recommendations#september-2023

Which advises users of older models should migrate to v4.0, as the older version will be retired in 2026?

Please can someone explain, as this is confusing and we need confidence in which model we should be using going forward
romungi-MSFT 46,141 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-09-10T13:20:55.13+00:00

@TimboBaggins Let me check internally for further details about your concerns. On the reference page I see a new API version, but it redirects back to the preview version. I will post an update as soon as I hear from the product teams. Thanks!!
Kevin Caulfield 5 Reputation points

2024-09-10T15:25:30.3566667+00:00

Looking for insight as we have an application going live soon and would like to use a supported library.
romungi-MSFT 46,141 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-09-11T07:23:59.34+00:00

@TimboBaggins As per the update from product team.

All custom vision features in image analysis are being deprecated. The custom vision documentation will be updated to remove the reference to the preview api to reduce confusion.

There is no version of image analysis API that customers are able to continue to use once these APIs are deprecated. Unfortunately, they will have to train new models in the GA Custom Vision product. More updates to the custom AI vision documentation for guidance will follow. Thanks!!
TimboBaggins 60 Reputation points

2024-09-11T08:14:11.22+00:00

@romungi-MSFT thanks for confirming... though this is very disappointing for us!

Is there any explanation as to why the sudden and drastic change in direction?

For the past year we have been using the product recognition model / API's which have worked really well for our needs... We understood the 4.0 image analysis was intended to replace the Custom Vision product, as it is superior in performance?

our processes use the COCO file format to create training data.. can the GA Custom Vision product accept COCO files for training?
Charles Thomas 40 Reputation points

2024-09-23T16:21:23.19+00:00

We also would like to know if there is any documentation or guidance for migrating to the Custom Vision.

For example: Custom Vision does not seem to accurately identify the bounding box for a product on a shelf as accurately as the Vision API. I'm guessing this simply means adding to the training dataset to show the product in a wider variety of backgrounds?

Also, we were using the Planogram Compliance API. It looks like we will need to write that feature ourselves? Or is that being made available in another way.
Ethan Fischer 5 Reputation points

2024-09-24T20:24:57.1866667+00:00

I'm adding to what Charles asked.

Here is an example of bounding boxes being less accurate with our custom vision project created using the 'Products on Shelves' domain. Notice how the top left corner and bottom two corners are outside the red bounds. The vision studio product recognition api seems to detect the bounds more accurately.

Is there any documentation or guidance for migrating to the Custom Vision specifically for products on shelves?
Valentin Taleb 15 Reputation points

2024-09-25T05:49:39.6033333+00:00

Another question : Will Custom Vision be upgraded with a more recent model ? I see that is has not been updated since October 2020 (https://zcusa.951200.xyz/en-us/azure/ai-services/custom-vision-service/whats-new)
Ethan Fischer 5 Reputation points

2024-10-14T15:46:31.1333333+00:00

Has anyone heard any news on this?

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Ethan Fischer 5 Reputation points

2024-09-24T18:07:19.91+00:00

[deleted due to accidentally posting answer instead of comment]
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Is Azure Vision API 4.0 product recognition being retired in Jan 25?

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