SkyNet plunges further into Robotics with DeepMind play..

[Don1]

Google to Buy Artificial Intelligence Startup DeepMind for $400M
January 26, 2014, 4:25 PM PST
By Liz Gannes

Google is shelling out $400 million to buy a secretive artificial intelligence company called DeepMind.

Google confirmed the deal after Re/code inquired about it, but declined to specify a price.

Based in London, DeepMind was founded by games prodigy and neuroscientist Demis Hassabis, along with Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman.

This is in large part an artificial intelligence talent acquisition, and Google CEO Larry Page led the deal himself, sources said. According to online bios, Hassabis in particular is quite a talent, a child prodigy in chess who was later called “probably the best games player in history” by the Mind Sports Olympiad.

DeepMind has only a landing page for a website where it describes its business as building learning algorithms for simulations, e-commerce and games. Profiles on LinkedIn indicate the company is about three years old.

Sources said Founders Fund is a major investor in DeepMind, along with Horizons Ventures. Skype and Kazaa developer Jaan Tallinn was an investor and advisor (not a founder, as we initially described him).

Other Google AI experts include Jeff Dean and Anna Patterson. The company also recently hired Geoffrey Hinton part-time.

Update: Though DeepMind may not be a household name in tech, sources in the artificial intelligence community describe the company as a formidable AI player and say it has been aggressively recruiting in the space. One source said DeepMind has a team of at least 50 people and has secured more than $50 million in funding. This person described DeepMind as “the last large independent company with a strong focus on artificial intelligence,” and said it competed with companies like Google, Facebook and Baidu for talent.

Multiple sources said the company has been developing a variety of approaches to AI, and applying them to various potential products including a recommendation system for e-commerce.

[Islandman]

Dem man yah serious.

Ones gets feeling that Apple is not going to be able to keep up with Google and Amazon, or even FB in this "internet of things" race.

Data run things, Apple not in the others league where that is concerned.

[Muadib]

ahm.. Apple acquired Siri a while back now.. research SRI and the connection to Apple..

Amazon or FB ?

lol ! woiee !

[Don1]

Google is SkyNet...nuhbaddy else shaping up to be close

Software run di cut...das why mi focus kinda switch to finding a compelling software model solution fi pikney learning

btw...yuh get mi mail?

[Islandman]

Siri is alright, but I don't think the data it gathers is anywhere near as rich and useful for data mining as what Amazon, Google and FB accumulate constantly.

[Islandman]

Yeah me get it, will give some feedback in a few days.

[Sir X]

Apple who can keep up with Google ? ...F.B is obsolete ,Amazon has a better chance than all the others in that its businesss is consumerism,not a social media app,thats just the spin off.

[Islandman]

Well me never yet hear of an obsolete website that have more than one billion active users monthly, but if you say so, lol.

That "Like" button is marketing gold, stay deh.

[Sir X]

You heard of my space , now its taking up space and the other one HI 5 ?

[Islandman]

MySpace had a billion users ? Dem had a like button dat people used to tell the world all about them?

Facebooks user growth is slowing, as it would have to eventually. More than 80% of internet users are already signed up.

The data they have already gathered is priceless, and do not forget that they are purchasing companies like Instagram. Dem know you face, you history , you likes, you friends....need I go on?

[Sir X]

F.B took down myspace ,by taking its members.F.B is limited in what it can do in terms of consumerism,posting photos of self doesnt equate to much , it needs to revamp its consumerist points if it wants to compete , and i doubt it can especially with Google.

[Islandman]

Alright, sah. There is consumerism and there is marketing for consumerism.

Google has vastly more data but nobody on the planet has the data that is as personally targeted as FB has.

When you say photos nuh equate to much me know you behind. They don't just have random photos. They have photos and metadata on the photos, ie tags. You think dem give you dem thing deh cause dem generous? They also have face recognition software that works with those photos. Do the math.

[Sir X]

OK sah.

[Don1]

Alright, sah. There is consumerism and there is marketing for consumerism.

Google has vastly more data but nobody on the planet has the data that is as personally targeted as FB has.

When you say photos nuh equate to much me know you behind. They don't just have random photos. They have photos and metadata on the photos, ie tags. You think dem give you dem thing deh cause dem generous? They also have face recognition software that works with those photos. Do the math.

people ah post photo online...an dem get geo-tagged and traced to where they were when they took the photo... beware dat photo ting especially if unnu deh pon a bad move

dem tink Babylon easy?

[Muadib]

You do not understand what Siri is...

This is not about Siri itself but you should research how Siri works and its genesis.. this is about how Apple is strategically positioned for the internet of things..