扎克伯格夫婦的慈善機構將收購人工智能創業公司

扎克伯格夫婦的私人慈善機構Chan Zuckerberg Initiative最近搭上了人工智能。

2015年，Facebook首席執行官馬克·扎克伯格和妻子普莉希拉·陳創立了慈善機構Chan Zuckerberg Initiative，本次收購對象是專門研究醫療保健行業人工智能以及相關數據分析技術的初創公司Meta。

最近，Chan Zuckerberg Initiative科學總裁科妮莉亞·巴格曼和首席技術官布萊恩·平克頓在機構的Facebook頁面上宣布了這一消息。收購的細節并未披露。

Meta的主要業務是利用自然語言處理和機器學習等人工智能技術篩選數百萬份科學技術論文，找出對醫療衛生專家最重要的文獻。IBM以及旗下沃森（Watson）電腦業務等等公司都認為，今后人工智能技術可以從每天成千上萬篇研究論文中汲取精華，幫助繁忙的醫生緊密把握最新的醫療領域動向。

Meta公司首席執行官山姆·莫利尼斯在一篇博文中表示，加入Chan Zuckerberg Initiative之后，比起之前用初創公司的身份，與學術部門和研究者打交道會更容易。

巴格曼和平克頓在聲明中稱，Meta的技術可以“大幅加快科學進步”，而且有望實現醫學突破，例如幫助研究者更快發現冠心病和寨卡病毒的有效治療手段等。

“我們會共同努力，幫Meta更快成長，更好地協助整個科學界，而且會向所有研究者免費提供研發出的工具和功能?！?巴格曼和平克頓寫道。

莫利尼斯在文中表示，由于即將被收購，Meta不會把賺錢當成首要目標，而會更集中在無私的目標上。

“資助科學家會形成良性循環，因為科學家可以研發新工具，為推動更快發展找到新機會?！?莫利尼斯寫道?！癈han Zuckerberg Initiative也發現了這一‘滾雪球’效應，所以Meta可以成為推動人類醫療衛生進步的關鍵一環，我們相信本世紀內就會實現巨大突破?！?

去年9月，Chan Zuckerberg Initiative宣布未來10年將斥資30億美元支持治療人類疾病的項目。

也是在9月，Chan Zuckerberg Initiative聘請了英國阿斯利康（AstraZeneca）前非執行董事巴格曼擔任科學總裁。（財富中文網）

作者：Jonathan Vanian

譯者：夏林

Mark Zuckerberg, right, founder and CEO of Facebook, and wife Priscilla Chan.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is getting some help from artificial intelligence.

The philanthropic organization, founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan in 2015, will buy Meta, a startup focusing on artificial intelligence and related data analytic technology in the healthcare industry.

The deal was disclosed in a Facebook post recently by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative president of science Cornelia Bargmann and the organization’s CTO Brian Pinkerton. Terms of the deal were not revealed.

Meta specializes in using artificial intelligence technologies like natural language processing and machine learning to sift through millions of scientific and technology papers and identify which papers should presumably be most important to health-care professionals. Several companies like IBM and its Watson business are betting that A.I. technologies can help cut through the noise of the thousands of research papers published each day and help busy doctors keep up to date of the latest health trends.

Meta CEO Sam Molyneux said in a blog post that by joining the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the Meta team would now find it easier to work with academics and researchers than it has before as a startup.

Bargmann and Pinkerton wrote that Meta’s technologies can “dramatically accelerate scientific progress” and could help perform feats like helping researchers more quickly discover promising treatments for ailments like coronary heart disease and the Zika virus.

“We will be working to make Meta even more powerful and useful for the entire scientific community, and are committed to offering these tools and features for free to all researchers.” Bargmann and Pinkerton wrote.

Molyneux wrote that because of the pending acquisition, Meta would not focus on making money like a typical business but on more altruistic motives.

“Helping scientists will produce a virtuous cycle, as they develop new tools that in turn unlock additional opportunities for faster advancement.” wrote Molyneux. “The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s recognition of this 'meta' effect is why Meta can be a key piece of the puzzle to enable the future of human health that we believe to be possible within this century.”

In September, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative said it would spend $3 billion over the next decade on projects intended to cure and treat all human diseases.

The Chan Zuckerberg also hired Bargmann, a former non-executive director of AstraZeneca, to become its president of science in September.