Google reportedly acquires AI company DeepMind for $400M

Google is expanding its
ambitions in artificial
intelligence with the
acquisition of AI company
DeepMind for a reported $400
million.
DeepMind's Web site
describes the London-based
company as "cutting edge,"
specializing in combing "the
best techniques from machine
learning and systems
neuroscience to build
powerful general-purpose
learning algorithms." The site
said the company's initial
commercial applications were
simulations, e-commerce, and
games.
The deal, which was first
reported by Recode, was
confirmed to CNET by a
Google representative who
declined to discuss the terms
of the deal. Google CEO Larry
Page spearheaded the deal
personally, according to
Recode.
Google's reported acquisition
of DeepMind comes less than
a year after the Web giant
announced the opening of a
new lab that uses a quantum
computer to advance machine
learning. Hosted by NASA's
Ames Research Center, the D-
Wave Systems computer is
made available to researchers
around the world to work on
their own projects.
Google has been particularly
focused on advances in
artificial intelligence recently.
Scientists working on the
company's secretive X Labs
lab created a neural network
for machine learning by
connecting 16,000 computer
processors and then
unleashed it on the Internet.
The network's performance
exceeded researchers'
expectations, doubling its
accuracy rate in identifying
objects from a list of 20,000
items.