Google's DeepMind Turns to Canada for Artificial Intelligence Boost

Google's high-profile artificial intelligence unit has a new Canadian outpost. DeepMind, which Google bought in 2014 for roughly $650 million, said Wednesday that it would open a research center in Edmonton, Canada. The new research center, which will work closely with the University of Alberta, is the United Kingdom-based DeepMind's first international AI research lab. DeepMind, now a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet (goog), recruited three University of Alberta professors from to lead the new research lab. The professors--Rich Sutton, Michael Bowling, and Patrick Pilarski--will maintain their positions at the university while working at the new research office.