Tech giants Intel and Apple buy artificial intelligence startups

Agence France-Presse

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Tech giants Intel and Apple buy artificial intelligence startups

AFP

These recent acquisitions clue us in on how our gadgets will be evolving in the near future

SAN FRANCISCO, USA – US-based Intel on Tuesday, August 9, announced a deal to buy an artificial intelligence startup as the computer chip colossus looks to broaden its role in data centers and the expanding “internet of things,” a concept that envisions all everyday objects having data connectivity. 

Intel did not disclose how much it is paying for San Diego-based Nervana Systems but US media reports put the price at more than $350 million.

“With this acquisition, Intel is formally committing to pushing the forefront of AI (artificial intelligence) technologies,” Nervana co-founder and chief executive Naveen Rao said in a blog post.

“We can now shatter the old paradigm and move into a new regime of computing.”

Founded two years ago in Southern California, Nervana has specialized in combining hardware and software to help machines think in ways similar to human brains, according to the companies.

Intel plans to put Nervana expertise to work in non-consumer Xeon and Xeon Phi processors found in workstations and servers to better handle “deep learning” in the internet cloud, Intel data center group executive vice president Diane Bryant said in an online post.

“While artificial intelligence is often equated with great science fiction, it isn’t relegated to novels and movies,” Bryant said.

“AI is all around us.”

Apple acquires its own AI startup

Just a day earlier, August 8, Apple confirmed that it has bought US machine learning startup Turi. The Seattle-based company specializes in enabling developers to imbue software applications with artificial intelligence, so the apps learn to think more the way people do.

Apple declined to elaborate the deal, telling AFP that it “buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”

Technology news website GeekWire cited people close to the acquisition as pegging the purchase price at $200 million.

Apple has been stepping up its artificial intelligence efforts to compete against rival services from Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

Improving machine learning capabilities of its Siri virtual assistant could enable it to better understand intent behind commands or queries spoken by users.

Siri is spreading from Apple mobile devices to its Mac computer system, allowing users of the PCs to search their machines or the Internet with voice commands, according to recent announcements from the Silicon Valley-based company.

The move expands the footprint for Siri, which is facing increased competition from Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa and Google Now, which also use artificial intelligence.

These recent acquisitions by Silicon Valley giants are a glimpse into tech’s future – a future rich with artificial intelligence not completely unlike the ones we see in popular fiction. It’s happening now. When Google auto-completes your search entries or when your voice assistant makes suggestions based on your previous interactions with your smartphone – that’s AI. How it develops from here, we’re about to see. 

English musician Brian Eno, quoted at Rappler’s #ThinkPH event, offers the ideal: “One day, humans will be living a life of leisure, our every one need met by machines and computers, leaving us free to pursue more intellectual and creative pastimes. And rather than engaging in tedious, repetitive work, this will herald a new arrival of the leisure economy.” – Rappler.com

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