Global Big Data Conference

Five years ago, one of Telenor's top boffins feared that Google, Amazon and Facebook were set to become an unstoppable force in artificial intelligence (AI). "There is a real risk that the most fundamental technology of the 21st century will be dominated by a few large companies, unless we take the necessary steps," said Bjørn Taale Sandberg, the Norwegian telco's head of research. For Telenor, the necessary steps meant investing in its own AI lab and backing the right startups. Conversely, it is hard to see how a strategic partnership with one of the AI bogeymen would produce alternatives to them. But that is what Telenor did five years after Sandberg first warned of an AI oligopoly, announcing a Google Cloud tie-up today. Among other things, it will be "exploring how to leverage" Google's AI expertise.