Amazon Poaches Artificial Intelligence Executive From eBay

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN 1.95 % recently poached an artificial-intelligence expert from rival eBay Inc., EBAY 1.02 % the latest move by the retail giant to strengthen its ability to quickly determine what users want. Hassan Sawaf joined Amazon as its director of artificial intelligence in Palo Alto, Calif., at its A9 labs, according to his LinkedIn page, with the goal of improving "the user experience for users of Amazon's search capability across all products and businesses." An eBay spokeswoman confirmed Mr. Sawaf left the company. Amazon and Mr. Sawaf didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. These companies and others are pouring money into artificial intelligence, which is expected to run everything from automobiles to houses in the future.