Google opens AI center in China despite exclusion from nation's internet

BEIJING – Google announced Wednesday that it will open a new artificial intelligence research center in Beijing, tapping China's talent pool in the promising technology despite the U.S. search giant's exclusion from the country's internet. Artificial intelligence, especially machine learning, has been an area of intense focus for American tech stalwarts Google, Microsoft and Facebook, and their Chinese competitors Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu as they bid to master what many consider the future of computing. AI research has the potential to boost developments in self-driving cars and automated factories, translation products and facial recognition software, among other innovations. Google's move to open a Beijing office focused on fundamental research is an indication of China's AI talent, widely seen as being neck-and-neck with the United States in research capability. "Chinese authors contributed 43 percent of all content in the top 100 AI journals in 2015," Li Feifei, a researcher leading the new center, wrote in a blog post on Google's website.