Google's Eric Schmidt: Machine learning will be basis of 'every huge IPO' in five years

Speaking at Google Cloud Platform in San Francisco, the chairman of Alphabet and former Google CEO highlighted artificial intelligence as the "next evolution" in computing. This will will spur the creation of new apps and services, he said. "Machine learning and crowdsourcing data will be the basis and fundamentals of every successful, huge IPO win in five years, in the same sense that the transition to [mobile] apps five years ago created the modern corporations of Uber, SnapChat and others." Schmidt highlighted Google AlphaGo - which defeated Go champion Lee Sedol last week - as an example of the power of artificial intelligence. See also: Google DeepMind: What is it, how does it work and should you be scared? He also cited Google's Photos image search software as a practical example of how machine learning can be applied to create new products and services when applied to large crowd-sourced datasets.