Advancing artificial intelligence, transforming retail and creating a musical VR experience from the desert: Weekend Reading -- Jan. 20 - The Official Microsoft Blog

The new year is in full swing, and so was Microsoft this week, with transformative work in artificial intelligence, retail, music, virtual reality and social good. Microsoft advanced its artificial intelligence efforts with plans to acquire Montreal-based Maluuba, one of the world's most impressive, deep-learning research labs for natural language understanding. Microsoft announced it will double the size of the lab in the next two years and give $6 million toward AI research to two Montreal universities. The announcements continue the ambitions of Microsoft to democratize artificial intelligence (AI) and leverage its potential to transform industries and humanity. If you didn't trek out to Joshua Tree, California, for the three-day concert event last year that launched Childish Gambino's latest album, "Awaken My Love," you're in luck: A new virtual reality experience can take you there.