Uber creates AI lab, buying start-up Geometric Intelligence

San Francisco: Uber Technologies Inc. agreed to buy start-up Geometric Intelligence Inc. to help the ride-hailing company create a new artificial-intelligence research lab. The start-up had 15 employees and was developing new machine-learning techniques inspired by cognitive science that rely on less data. Chief executive officer Gary Marcus, an author and professor of psychology and neural science at New York University, will head the new research effort, called Uber AI Labs. The lab will report to Jeff Holden, Uber's chief product officer. It will try to improve the algorithms Uber uses to match drivers with passengers, and seek new techniques for building self-driving cars.