Google gives software away to influence AI research

The release of TensorFlow means anyone can download and modify the development software that underpins RankBrain, the AI powering part of Google's search engine and new features such as its Smart Reply e-mail tool, Google wrote in a blog post.

Companies ranging from Google to Facebook Inc. to Microsoft Corp. are seeking to influence AI development by staffing up research labs, publishing academic research papers, giving presentations at conferences and even guest lecturing at universities. They're betting that by being open they can entice talented academics to work for them, while encouraging the wider community to work on new AI technologies. Other companies, such as Apple and Amazon.com have been more secretive in the past, but are seeking to be more open.

The companies are also trying guide AI development. Facebook has released free code for Torch, an AI development tool used by Google's DeepMind subsidiary, AMD, Intel, and others. Twitter announced its first contribution to Torch on Friday. Microsoft, meanwhile, has published numerous AI programs and datasets as open source.

By releasing TensorFlow, Google aims to make the software it built to develop and run its own AI systems a part of the standard toolset used by researchers, said Jason Freidenfelds, a spokesman for Mountain View, California-based Google. It may also help Google identify potential talent.

Google has shared TensorFlow ahead of its release with a few people, he said. Christopher Manning, a professor of Linguistics and Computer Science at Stanford University, has --- along with two students -- been writing AI programs using TensorFlow. He says the system can perform operations much faster than other tools, and includes features that take a long time to program, like fine-tuned systems that work with graphical processing unit chips from companies such as Nvidia Corp.

The main factor that could make or break TensorFlow is Google's involvement with the open-source community that adopts it.

"As a researcher, if a tool makes you faster that's pretty compelling," Manning said. "Based on the evidence available to me now I think it will be widely adopted."

Source: Google gives software away to influence AI research