Microsoft is ramping up its stake in the artificial intelligence market by buying the AI and machine learning startup Bonsai.
Bonsai’s team develops technology that the automotive industry and other markets can use to work AI into their own products. The company’s tech also lets people train autonomous systems without having to be AI experts.
Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Business AI Gurdeep Pall said,
[Bonsai] is building a general-purpose, deep reinforcement learning platform especially suited for enterprises leveraging industrial control systems such as robotics, energy, HVAC, manufacturing and autonomous systems in general. This includes unique machine-teaching innovations, automated model generation and management, a host of APIs and SDKs for simulator integration, as well as pre-built support for leading simulations all packaged in one end-to-end platform.
Bonsai’s 42 employees are joining Microsoft’s AI research group.
It’s pretty clear Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Amazon all see artificial intelligence and machine learning as important parts of their businesses. Odds are we’ll see more acquisitions as they all push to leap frog each other in a bid to become the name in AI.