Microsoft acquires Maluuba, a startup focused on general artificial intelligence

Microsoft has acquired Canadian startup Maluuba, a company founded by University of Waterloo grads Kaheer Suleman and Sam Pasupalak that also participated in TechCrunch's 2012 San Francisco Startup Battlefield competition. Maluuba focuses on natural language processing, in service of pursuing general artificial intelligence, or building computers that can think like people. The Montreal-based company focuses on using deep learning and reinforcement learning to increase the proficiency and effectiveness of computer-based systems that can answer questions and make decisions, and Microsoft notes in a blog post that its work will help with Microsoft's broad goal of making AI more accessible and useful to the general public. Maluuba's focus has been on improving computer systems' ability to comprehend what they're reading, to understand natural dialog between individuals and to get better at tasks like memory, common-sense reasoning and finding information when they have a gap in their own knowledge. These are huge problems to tackle, and Maluuba notes that it became "apparent" that the best way to make progress was to tap into the significant resources made available from a larger partner.