Google acquires artificial intelligence company DeepMind

NEW DELHI: Google has reportedly acquired London based artificial intelligence startup DeepMind Technologies. The latest move by Google reaffirms its ambitions in the artificial reality space. The acquisition was reportedly led by Google's CEO Larry Page.

In December 2012, Google hired Ray Kurzweil as a director of engineering focused on machine learning and language processing. Kurzweil has said that he wants to build a search engine so advanced that it could act like a "cybernetic friend."

Google's acquisition of DeepMind is in sync with the growing interest in artificial intelligence. While Facebook is actively working in the domain, IBM's Watson supercomputer is also exploring deep learning.

Founded in London in 2012 by Demis Hassabis, Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman, DeepMind uses general-purpose learning algorithms for applications such as simulations, e-commerce and games, according to its website.

While the size of the deal is reported to be around $400 million, industry experts believe it could exceed that amount.