Google Acquires AI Startup DeepMind For More Than $500M

Google will buy London-based artificial intelligence company DeepMind. TechCrunch reports that the acquisition price was more than $500 million, and that Facebook was also in talks to buy the startup late last year. DeepMind has confirmed the acquisition, but hasn't disclosed the deal terms. Some pundits have said that this must be a counter to Apple's Siri, but honestly I think Google already has enough AI smarts to counter Siri. To me this look as if Google sees a could synergy between DeepMind and its own skills and wants to prevent competitors acquiring DeepMind's expertise.