Uber appoints machine learning professor Zoubin Ghahramani as chief scientist 3 months after acquiring his startup

Uber has appointed a chief scientist to fill a new position at the San Francisco-based company. Zoubin Ghahramani will oversee Uber's AI Labs and lead its broader AI and machine learning strategy, according to a statement. "Zoubin joined Uber through the acquisition of Geometric Intelligence, and it has become clear that Zoubin is a natural for the chief scientist role," said Jeff Holden, Uber's chief product officer. Ghahramani joined Uber when a stealth startup he cofounded, Geometric Intelligence, was acquired by the ride-hailing company in December. At the time, the acquisition was seen largely as an "acqui-hire" to obtain top scientific talent.