人工智能领域收购方兴未艾，这9家公司最活跃
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科技巨头如IBM和谷歌（Google）都在各自的人工智能研发项目上投入了数十亿美元，但过去几年里我们也看到了一股人工智能收购的浪潮，大公司买断初创企业，以获取顶尖人才和最前端的数据分析技术。（收购数据统计自2010年，来源：CB Insights） ALPHABET （14项收购） 谷歌CEO桑德尔·皮查伊认为，对谷歌这一搜索巨头来说，人工智能是其各项主要业务的核心要素。谷歌的收购明显体现了这一点，包括2014年以6亿美元收购英国Deep-Mind，该公司以最先开发出能够在策略游戏围棋中击败人类冠军的软件而知名。 苹果 （13项收购） 2010年收购Siri后，苹果在收购人工智能公司上也一发不可收拾。Siri的语音识别界面，自那以后对许多人而言就是消费级人工智能的代名词。 （6项收购） 这家社交媒体巨头也是人工智能领域的大玩家，它使用深度学习技术来优化其新闻递送板块（尽管这一工作仍在进展中）。Facebook最近几年的大手笔收购，包括2017年收购Ozlo以改进其发消息APP的功能。 亚马逊 （5项收购） 亚马逊的在线零售业务（产品与客户偏好的配对）和云计算业务，都大量使用了人工智能。亚马逊还用人工智能来筛选其生鲜递送业务线上的产品。 英特尔 （5项收购） 英特尔除了生产其常规的个人电脑CPU之外，也在投入新电脑芯片生产线的研发, 这推动它参与到人工智能领域。英特尔最近的收购都着力于开发带人工智能的特种芯片。 微软 （5项收购） 微软在将业务重心从Windows操作系统转向云计算的过程中，也大额投资人工智能领域，比如它的消费级数据分析技术和Cortana虚拟助理。 MELTWATER （5项收购） 市场与商业情报公司Meltwater使用人工智能技术来帮助客户衡量广告与市场营销活动的效果。 推特 （4项收购） 推特网站背后所使用的数据分析技术，能保证那些来自你的好友、名人和媒体端的推文能准确地推送到你的首页。 SALESFORCE (4项收购) Salesforce使用人工智能来协助其软件工具，以便更好地解析邮件并向客户提供销售预测。（财富中文网） 此文另一版本刊于2018年7月1日的《财富》杂志，标题为“人工智能的并购”。 译者：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..” |
