人工智能領域收購方興未艾，這9家公司最活躍
|
科技巨頭如IBM和谷歌（Google）都在各自的人工智能研發項目上投入了數十億美元，但過去幾年里我們也看到了一股人工智能收購的浪潮，大公司買斷初創企業，以獲取頂尖人才和最前端的數據分析技術。（收購數據統計自2010年，來源：CB Insights） ALPHABET （14項收購） 谷歌CEO桑德爾·皮查伊認為，對谷歌這一搜索巨頭來說，人工智能是其各項主要業務的核心要素。谷歌的收購明顯體現了這一點，包括2014年以6億美元收購英國Deep-Mind，該公司以最先開發出能夠在策略游戲圍棋中擊敗人類冠軍的軟件而知名。 蘋果 （13項收購） 2010年收購Siri后，蘋果在收購人工智能公司上也一發不可收拾。Siri的語音識別界面，自那以后對許多人而言就是消費級人工智能的代名詞。 （6項收購） 這家社交媒體巨頭也是人工智能領域的大玩家，它使用深度學習技術來優化其新聞遞送板塊（盡管這一工作仍在進展中）。Facebook最近幾年的大手筆收購，包括2017年收購Ozlo以改進其發消息APP的功能。 亞馬遜 （5項收購） 亞馬遜的在線零售業務（產品與客戶偏好的配對）和云計算業務，都大量使用了人工智能。亞馬遜還用人工智能來篩選其生鮮遞送業務線上的產品。 英特爾 （5項收購） 英特爾除了生產其常規的個人電腦CPU之外，也在投入新電腦芯片生產線的研發, 這推動它參與到人工智能領域。英特爾最近的收購都著力于開發帶人工智能的特種芯片。 微軟 （5項收購） 微軟在將業務重心從Windows操作系統轉向云計算的過程中，也大額投資人工智能領域，比如它的消費級數據分析技術和Cortana虛擬助理。 MELTWATER （5項收購） 市場與商業情報公司Meltwater使用人工智能技術來幫助客戶衡量廣告與市場營銷活動的效果。 推特 （4項收購） 推特網站背后所使用的數據分析技術，能保證那些來自你的好友、名人和媒體端的推文能準確地推送到你的首頁。 SALESFORCE (4項收購) Salesforce使用人工智能來協助其軟件工具，以便更好地解析郵件并向客戶提供銷售預測。（財富中文網） 此文另一版本刊于2018年7月1日的《財富》雜志，標題為“人工智能的并購”。 譯者：宣峰? |
Tech giants like IBM and Google have invested billions internally in A.I. research, but the past few years have also seen a wave of acquisitions, as big companies buy up startups to obtain top talent and new data-crunching science. (Acquisition figures are since 2010. source: CB Insights) ALPHABET (14 ACQUISITIONS) Google CEO Sundar Pichai has made the case that artificial intelligence is core to the search giant’s major businesses. It definitely shows in its acquisitions, including its 2014 purchase for over $600 million of U.K.–based Deep-Mind—whose software is best known for being the first to defeat a human champion at the strategy game Go. APPLE (13 ACQUISITIONS) Apple kicked off its A.I. acquisition spree in 2010 when it bought Siri, whose voice-recognition interface has since become, for many, the embodiment of consumer-facing A.I. (6 ACQUISITIONS) The social networking giant is also an A.I. heavyweight, using deep learning to clean up its News Feed (though that’s very much a work in progress). Its recent big buys include the 2017 acquisition of Ozlo to improve its messaging app. AMAZON (5 ACQUISITIONS) It takes a lot of A.I. to fuel both its online retail (matching products to customer preferences) and its cloud-computing business. Amazon also uses A.I. to help screen the produce it ships through its grocery delivery business. INTEL (5 ACQUISITIONS) Part of Intel’s push into A.I. involves researching new computer chip lines, outside of its breadand-butter CPUs that power PCs. Its recent acquisitions are aimed at helping it develop specialized chips for A.I. functionality. MICROSOFT (5 ACQUISITIONS) As Microsoft shifts its focus from the Windows operating system to cloud computing, it’s also investing heavily in A.I.—whether it’s data-crunching tech it can sell to customers or its Cortana virtual assistant. MELTWATER (5 ACQUISITIONS) Marketing and business intelligence firm Meltwater uses A.I. to help customers measure the effectiveness of their advertising and marketing campaigns. (4 ACQUISITIONS) Data-crunching tech working behind the scenes helps Twitter make sure that tweets from your preferred friends, celebrities, and media outlets surface correctly in your feeds. SALESFORCE (4 ACQUISITIONS) Salesforce uses A.I. to help its software tools better parse emails and recommend sales prospects to its customers. A version of this article appears in the July 1, 2018 issue of Fortune with the headline “The M&A of A.I..” |
