CheckRecipient is a London startup that uses machine learning to help prevent emails being sent to the wrong recipient. Read More CheckRecipient, a London startup that uses machine learning to stop misaddressed emails, raises .7M

In a strong indication of the links in tech between China and Silicon Valley, social network giant Tencent has acquired a 5 percent stake in U.S. electric car maker Tesla for $1.8 billion. The rationale behind the deal is potential collaboration on automated ride-sharing and delivery services as well as related information, entertainment and e-commerce content. Alibaba-backed search engine startup Quixey in Silicon Valley has failed with strategic misalignment, cultural differences and disagreements over a commercial contract to blame. Quixey was one of Alibaba's first bets in Silicon Valley tech startups, and the Chinese conglomerate led financing of well more than $100 million in Quixey, starting from 2013 and ending with a $30 million loan and $10 million in cash last summer. It's a high-profile fail for Alibaba and its U.S. investment strategy.

Above the Trend Line: machine learning industry rumor central, is a recurring feature of insideBIGDATA. In this column, we present a variety of short time-critical news items such as people movements, funding news, financial results, industry alignments, rumors and general scuttlebutt floating around the big data, data science and machine learning industries including behind-the-scenes anecdotes and curious buzz. Our intent is to provide our readers a one-stop source of late-breaking news to help keep you abreast of this fast-paced ecosystem. We're working hard on your behalf with our extensive vendor network to give you all the latest happenings. Be sure to Tweet Above the Trend Line articles using the hashtag: #abovethetrendline.

The landscape of data is ever-changing, meaning analysts need to evolve both their thinking and data collection methods to stay ahead of the curve. In many cases, data that might have been considered unique, uncommon or unattainably expensive just a few years ago is now widely used and often very affordable. It is the analysts who take advantage of these untapped data sources, while they remain untapped, who can reap the rewards by gaining a competitive advantage before the rest of their industry or peers catch on. This type of data is often referred to as alternative data, and with the ever-increasing levels of data available in the modern world comes the opportunity to gain unique insights, competitive industry advantage, and boosted profits. It is perhaps no surprise then to hear that the scramble to get hold of such data has been dubbed the new gold rush.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. reported an unexpected rise in quarterly earnings after the main assembler of Apple Inc.'s devices rode record iPhone sales during the pivotal holiday shopping period. The world's biggest contract manufacturer of electronics reported a 30 percent increase in net income to 68.8 billion Taiwan dollars ($2.3 billion) in the three months ended December, according to Bloomberg calculations derived from previously released data. Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn Technology Group, derives about half its sales from Apple, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. The world's most valuable company shipped an unprecedented 78.3 million iPhones during the October-December quarter, despite its latest device representing a modest update on its predecessor. Optimism around Apple's iPhone for 2017 -- the 10th anniversary of the iconic device -- has driven the Taiwanese company's stock close to a decade high.

Though the lace would interact directly with a person's brain, Musk said implanting it might not require extensive surgery, remarking that it could be injected into the veins. The Journal reports that one of Musk's co-founders at Neuralink is Max Hodak, who co-founded a company called Transcriptic. Hodak's bio at the Transcriptic website says he was a "research assistant at Duke University Medical Center, where he built brain-machine interfaces for monkeys. As a member of the lab, he witnessed on a regular basis the inefficiencies of basic laboratory work that he felt were ripe for robotic optimization." Neither Hodak nor Musk were immediately available for comment.

Microsoft (MSFT) ended 2016 in the green, up more than 10%. Moreover, the stock is off to a good start this year, with a 5% rise year to date. As a matter of fact, the company's upward movement started in early 2013. Since then, it has continued rewarding investors every year. Microsoft reported second-quarter results in January. The company's revenue came in at $26 billion, again exceeding analysts' estimate by $790 million.

Dormehl examines the pending social and economic impact of artificial intelligence, for example on employment. He recounts the positive history of automation. In 1900, about 40 percent of American workers were employed on farms and over 20 percent in factories. By 2015, these figures had fallen to 2 percent on farms and 8.7 percent in factories. Yet for every job that was eliminated, we invented several new ones, with the work force growing from 24 million people (31 percent of the population in 1900) to 142 million (44 percent of the population in 2015). The average job today pays 11 times as much per hour in constant dollars as it did a century ago.

DataRobot has raised $54 million in the first close of a Series C round led by New Enterprise Associates. The latest round brings the total amount raised by the Boston, Massachusetts-based company to $111 million, with "significant" additional funding expected in the second close of the round. Data scientists Jeremy Achin and Thomas DeGodoy founded DataRobot in 2012 on the belief that automated machine learning will not only increase productivity for data scientists, but will also open up the world of data science to non-data scientists. The DataRobot platform features hundreds of open-source machine learning algorithms, allowing users to quickly build predictive models. Chris Devaney, COO at DataRobot, told ZDNet that a data scientist would typically look at a set of data, prepare that data, and then train a predictive model -- a process that can take weeks or even months.

Mythic is one of them, and it claims to be taking a different approach. The Austin, Texas-based startup wants to move away from the cloud and a dependence on network connections by putting AI-on-a-chip inside smart devices, like security cameras and health wearables. DFJ believes in the potential of this approach to AI and led an $8.8 million round into Mythic that was announced today. The startup has developed both software and microchips to make its AI smarter and faster. Today, artificial neural networks need big server racks powered by graphics processing units (GPUs) to handle complex algorithms.