Despite Pledging Openness, Companies Rush to Patent AI Tech

"We create open platforms and share our technology because it helps new ideas get out faster," Pichai said. Then he namechecked TensorFlow, the machine learning software Google developed and uses internally. The company open sourced the code in 2015, and it has since been downloaded more than 15 million times. "We created TensorFlow to make it possible for anyone to use AI," Pichai said. Such homilies to openness have become standard from the large tech companies competing intensely to develop AI technology.