Google buys French image recognition company in ongoing AI arms race

Moodstocks, a Parisian startup that develops image recognition tools for smartphones, is joining Google. The companies announced the acquisition today, sans financials. Around since 2008, Moodstocks hasn't had considerable traction. But the company has tech and engineers working on machine learning, something Google cannot get enough of as it competes with rivals like Apple and Facebook for talent. And Moodstocks' core service -- "to give eyes to machines by turning cameras into smart sensors," as its parting note described -- fits with Google's vision for image search and augmented reality, where a phone (or something else) knows your physical surroundings. Also, the acquisition price may have been low thanks to wobbling global markets.