Intel and Microsoft's latest investment binge shows AI land grab is intensifying

Intel and Microsoft have been on something of an artificial intelligence (AI) investment binge of late, with the chip and software giants announcing a slew of deals this week via their respective VC arms -- Intel Capital and Microsoft Ventures. Perhaps the most notable of these was Element AI, which raised a gargantuan $102 million in what is one of the largest series A rounds in recent times. The Montreal-based startup, which helps connect companies with machine learning experts, drew in some other interesting investors besides Intel and Microsoft, including rival chipmaker Nvidia. The Element AI deal followed just a day after Intel and Microsoft joined forces for a $15 million investment into CognitiveScale, a Texas-based startup that uses AI to harness big data and deliver insights and recommendations. The very same day, Intel participated in a $16 million round into California-based robotic vision startup Aeye, while on Monday Microsoft got involved in a $20 million funding round into CrowdFlower, a platform that meshes machines with human input to ensure data science teams have access to properly tagged, clean data.