Tech giants acquired 34 AI startups in Q1 2017

Tech giants seeking to reinforce their leads in artificial intelligence or make up for lost ground have been the most aggressive buyers. Google has acquired 11 AI startups since 2012, the most of any firm, followed by Apple, Facebook and Intel, respectively, according to CB Insights. The companies declined to comment on their acquisition strategies. A spokesman for Apple did confirm the company's recent purchase of Lattice Data, a startup that specializes in working with unstructured data. The first quarter also saw one of the largest deals to date as Ford Motor Company invested $1 billion in Argo AI, founded by former executives on self-driving teams at Google and Uber.