Google buys Kaggle and its gaggle of AI geeks

Machine learning is the next big thing, says Google with its acquisition of AI site Kaggle. It doesn't take artificial intelligence to know Google thinks machine learning will be central to your future. After all, the Silicon Valley powerhouse has been busy creating self-teaching tech that can translate languages, vamp with you on piano, and politely crush you at the ancient Chinese game of Go. "Over time, the computer itself -- whatever its form factor -- will be an intelligent assistant helping you through your day," Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in his first-ever letter to shareholders, last year. "We will move from mobile first to an AI first world." Now Google has taken another step toward that future.