Following the acquisition of Robots-maker Boston Dynamics and home automation company Nest, Google has reportedly acquired the Artificial Intelligence company “DeepMind” for $400 million.
Founded by games prodigy and neuroscientist Demis Hassabis, along with Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman, the London-based DeepMind Technologies used its first commercial applications on games, simulations and e-commerce with its “best techniques from machine learning and systems neuroscience to build powerful general-purpose learning algorithms,” according to the company website homepage.
DeepMind is not the popular name in tech field, but the company has its own level of fans in the AI community that describes it as a formidable AI player. Sources said that the company has been aggressively recruiting in the space that led the company to form a team of around 50 employees with over $50 million funding from Founders Fund, Horizons Ventures and others including the Skype developer Jaan Tallinn.
Google hasn’t revealed the acquisition, but CNET‘s report claims that a Google representative has confirmed the deal but refused to reveal the terms of the deal. It has been initial effort of Google CEO Larry Page that lead to complete the acquisition.
Last year, Google announced a new lab to advance machine learning via quantum computer. Even in 2012, the company’s secret X Labs created a neural network for machine learning through 16,000 connected computer processors. NY Times reported in June 2012 that the network’s performance exceeded researchers’ expectations, doubling its accuracy rate in identifying objects from a list of 20,000 items.
