Salesforce buys hot deep learning startup MetaMind, services shutting down May 4

Salesforce has acquired MetaMind, a deep learning startup backed by Salesforce cofounder and chief executive Marc Benioff. The startup's services will stop working on May 4. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. "Salesforce plans to integrate MetaMind's technology into Salesforce services," MetaMind cofounder and chief executive Richard Socher wrote in a blog post. "For unpaid web users, MetaMind's products will be discontinued on May 4. For our monthly recurring users, MetaMind's products will be discontinued on June 4. We'll delete any data we have stored for unpaid web users and monthly recurring users after April 11." Deep learning is a type of artificial intelligence that many large technology companies -- like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter -- have invested in by way of acquisitions or in-house research.