Zuckerberg charity buys artificial intelligence startup to battle disease

SAN FRANCISCO: A charitable foundation backed by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife has said it has bought a Canadian artificial intelligence startup as part of a mission to eradicate disease. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative did not disclose financial terms of the deal to acquire Toronto-based Meta, which uses AI to quickly read and comprehend scientific papers and then provide insights to researchers. Meta capabilities will be unified in a tool made available for free to scientists. "We are very excited about what lies ahead," Meta cofounder and CEO Sam Molyneux said in a statement. Zuckerberg and his doctor wife, Priscilla Chan, in September pledged $3 billion over the next decade to help banish or manage all disease, pouring some of the Facebook founder's fortune into innovative research.