Tech giants like IBM and Google have invested billions internally in A.I. research, but the past few years have also seen a wave of acquisitions, as big companies buy up startups to obtain top talent and new data-crunching science. (Acquisition figures are since 2010. source: CB Insights)
ALPHABET
(14 ACQUISITIONS)
> Google CEO Sundar Pichai has made the case that artificial intelligence is core to the search giant’s major businesses. It definitely shows in its acquisitions, including its 2014 purchase for over $600 million of U.K.–based Deep-Mind—whose software is best known for being the first to defeat a human champion at the strategy game Go (above).
APPLE
(13 ACQUISITIONS)
> Apple kicked off its A.I. acquisition spree in 2010 when it bought Siri, whose voice-recognition interface has since become, for many, the embodiment of consumer-facing A.I.
(6 ACQUISITIONS)
> The social networking giant is also an A.I. heavyweight, using deep learning to clean up its News Feed (though that’s very much a work in progress). Its recent big buys include the 2017 acquisition of Ozlo to improve its messaging app.
AMAZON
(5 ACQUISITIONS)
> It takes a lot of A.I. to fuel both its online retail (matching products to customer preferences) and its cloud-computing business. Amazon also uses A.I. to help screen the produce it ships through its grocery delivery business.
Image Credit: Go Fans watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of the Google DeepMind Challenge Match in Seoul, South Korea. Google’s artificial intelligence program AlphaGo beat top-class South Korean Go player Lee Se-dol. Seung Il Ryu—Zuma Wire
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