Amazon hires AI expert to ward off Google in its cloud business

His cursory description of the role -- "with the task to make machine learning as easy to use and widespread as it could possibly be" -- echoes Google's stated strategy. Both companies are competing for businesses to pay for their cloud services and for researchers with AI expertise. My favorite nugget of Smola's announcement: He only posted his full statement, intended just for CMU, because it leaked on Weibo, the social network in China, where machine learning is the rage and where Silicon Valley biggies want to be. CNBC's parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Recode's parent Vox, and the companies have a content-sharing arrangement.