Twitter bets big on artificial intelligence with Magic Pony acquisition

Twitter has spent a reported 150 million on acquiring artificial intelligence startup Magic Pony Technology, with the aim of using machine learning to improve its image and video capabilities. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey described the startup as a "small and mighty machine learning team" and said that deep learning was key for Twitter's goal of being the "first and best place to see what's happening in the world." In a blogpost released Monday, Dorsey also gave details of how the machine learning techniques developed by Magic Pony Technology would be used by the social media giant. "Magic Pony's team will be joining Twitter Cortex, a team of engineers, data scientists, and machine learning researchers dedicated to building a product in which people can easily find new experiences to share and participate in," Dorsey said. "Magic Pony's technology--based on research by the team to create algorithms that can understand the features of imagery--will be used to enhance our strength in live and video and opens up a whole lot of exciting creative possibilities for Twitter."