Luke Edwards, head of Brookfield's Japan unit, said the firm plans to promote investment in artificial intelligence data centers. The head of the Japan unit of major Canadian asset management firm Brookfield has voiced plans to promote investments in artificial intelligence data centers that can process large amounts of data. During a recent interview, Luke Edwards said, "Building out data centers requires detailed knowledge of the sector and the power system, and we have knowledge of both." He also expressed confidence in building power systems for data centers. Brookfield plans to invest over $10 billion, or some ¥1.6 trillion, in Japan over the next five years.

Google has agreed to secure as much as 3GW of US hydropower in the world's largest corporate clean power pact for hydroelectricity, the company said on Tuesday, as big tech pursues the expansion of energy-hungry datacenters. The deal between Google and Brookfield Asset Management includes initial 20-year power purchase agreements, totaling 3bn, for electricity generated from two hydropower facilities in Pennsylvania. The tech giant will also invest 25bn in datacenters across Pennsylvania and neighboring states over the next two years, Semafor reported on Tuesday. The technology industry is intensifying the hunt for huge amounts of clean electricity to power datacenters needed for artificial intelligence and cloud computing, which has driven US power consumption to record highs after nearly two decades of stagnation. Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer at Google parent company Alphabet, discussed the news at an AI summit in Pittsburgh.

There's a massive announcement set to take place later this year, and it could change the $12 trillion healthcare industry forever. Over the last 2 years, we've seen a huge transformation as businesses across nearly every industry have gone digital. And with the health crisis sweeping the globe last year, the healthcare sector was no different. Mentioned in today's commentary includes: Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE: BEP), LifeStance Health Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: LFST), Teladoc Health, Inc. (NYSE: TDOC), Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc. (NASDAQ: MNMD), American Well Corporation (NYSE: AMWL). That's why we're now on the verge of a healthcare revolution, set to leverage the latest technology to disrupt a bloated and complicated system.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been the stuff of science fiction for decades, yet technology is finally bringing intelligent computer systems to life. While Elon Musk has warned that AI could create immortal dictators, companies around the world have been deploying AI to improve customer experience and streamline business practices for years. When it comes to how to use these new technologies, it's important to think beyond just machine learning vs artificial intelligence and understand how they can work together. While often used synonymously with AI, machine learning is actually a subset of AI technology, describing the process by which systems grow beyond core programming to expand toward intelligence. Though people often use artificial intelligence and machine learning interchangeably, there are important differences between the two – especially when building customer experiences.

As buyout multiples have climbed and capital piles up in private investment funds, acquirers have been looking for a competitive edge in their hunt for acquisitions. For some firms, that has meant doing more advanced data analysis in an effort to better understand, value and integrate a business into their portfolio. And that is bringing computer science and M&A communities closer than ever. Deal making has always required rigorous number crunching and sophisticated excel modelling, but increasingly it's also involving the use of "unstructured data" that don't format neatly in a spreadsheet, such as census figures, social media inputs, image files and even weather patterns. New technology can help acquirers such as pension funds and private-equity buyers when they're prospecting for deals as well as in the due-diligence and integration phases of the deal.

For the majority of its existence, home automation has been confined to fiction and the houses of the wealthy. But as more affordable smart-home technology trickles into the market, the demographics are shifting, and tech companies are jostling to get their virtual home assistants in the door. Many are even teaming up with home builders to develop connected homes from the ground up. In 2015, consumers bought 1.7 million voice-compatible devices, according to a report from analytics start-up VoiceLabs. Last year that number grew to 6.5 million.