A screenshot of a terminal session in which Google's Magika, a tool for identifying file types via machine learning, is run against the root directory of a CU Amiga coverdisc. Only the directories plus one file, a plain-text document, are correctly identified.

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   Gareth Halfacree (ghalfacree@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 16-Feb-2024 19:58:51 JST Gareth Halfacree

   Google, following the industry trend to AI-all-the-things, has released Magika - a machine learning model which can identify file types. It claims it can outperform traditional methods by 20 per cent.

   I pitted it against BSD File on something I figured Google hadn't included in its million-file-strong corpus: CU Amiga's Mega CD-ROM coverdisc from November 1995.

   Magika identified... one file correctly, a plain-text document. File? File got 'em all, and quicker too.

   (An unfair test, I know!)