Amazon's new research center seeks to improve AI vision

Professor Bernhard Schölkopf, a director at the Max Planck Institute and leading mind in machine learning, is now also an "Amazon Scholar." Between its online shopping algorithms, online web services and the rise of Alexa, artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly important part of Amazon's business model. Now, the online mega-retailer is investing in the technology's future with plans for a new Amazon Research Center near the campus of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen, Germany. Amazon plans to staff the new facility with 100 employees in the field of machine learning, and will pour 1.25 million euros (almost $1.5 million) into new research groups. Research in areas critical to AI, including robotics, machine learning and machine vision, are already underway in the area.