Apple joins Google, Facebook and Microsoft in AI research group

Apple is joining fellow tech giants Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and IBM as the sixth founding member of the recently-formed artificial intelligence research group - the Partnership on AI. The non-profit said Apple has been "involved and collaborating with the Partnership since before it was announced" in September and is "thrilled to formalize its membership." "We glad to see the industry engaging on some of the larger opportunities and concerns created with the advance of machine learning and AI," Tom Gruber, Apple's head of development for its intelligence personal assistant Siri, said in a statement on the Partnership's website. "We believe it's beneficial to Apple, our customers, and the industry to play an active role in its development and look forward to collaborating with the group to help drive discussion on how to advance AI while protecting the privacy and security of consumers." The Partnership also announced that six new non-industry trustees will be joining its board including Jason Furman, former top economic adviser for Barack Obama; Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and Subbarao Kambhampati, president of the Association for the Advancement of AI.