GOOGLE has shelled out $US500 million ($575 million) for a mystery artificial intelligence company founded by a 37-year old former chess prodigy.
Google only confirmed the deal once website Re/code asked about it but did not reveal the price paid for the company, DeepMind.
DeepMind has only a landing page for a website where it describes its business as building learning algorithms for simulations, e-commerce and games. Profiles on LinkedIn indicate the company is about three years old.
Google chief executive Larry Page led the deal personally.
DeepMind was founded by researcher Demis Hassabis together with Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman.
Mr Hassabis, who is on leave from University College London, has investigated the mechanisms that underlie human memory.
Artificial intelligence uses computers for tasks normally requiring human intelligence, like speech recognition or language translation.
An AI source told re/code that DeepMind was “the last large independent company with a strong focus on artificial intelligence,” and said it competed with companies like Google, Facebook and Baidu for talent.
Google, like other tech giants such as Facebook, are anxious to develop systems that work like the human brain.
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