COMMANDING the plot lines of Hollywood films, covers of magazines and reams of newsprint, the contest between artificial intelligence (AI) and mankind draws much attention. Doomsayers warn that AI could eradicate jobs, break laws and start wars. The competition today is not between humans and machines but among the world's technology giants, which are investing feverishly to get a lead over each other in AI. An exponential increase in the availability of digital data, the force of computing power and the brilliance of algorithms has fuelled excitement about this formerly obscure corner of computer science. The West's largest tech firms, including Alphabet (Google's parent), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft are investing huge sums to develop their AI capabilities, as are their counterparts in China. Although it is difficult to separate tech firms' investments in AI from other kinds, so far in 2017 (see chart 1) companies globally have completed around $21.3bn in mergers and acquisitions related to AI, according to PitchBook, a data provider, or around 26 times more than in 2015.

Commanding the plot lines of Hollywood films, covers of magazines and reams of newsprint, the contest between artificial intelligence (AI) and mankind draws much attention. Doomsayers warn that AI could eradicate jobs, break laws and start wars.

Google I/O, the company's annual developer conference, is the company's biggest event of the year. One of the main talking points at this year's conference will likely be artificial intelligence. Google has been slowly injecting AI into many of its products and services and the company's CEO Sundar Pichai has sounded very bullish on the prospects of artificial intelligence in recent public appearances. As our chart illustrates, Google's recent M&A activity also speaks its ambitions in the AI field. According to numbers compiled by CB Insights, the company acquired 11 artificial intelligence startups since 2012, more than any other company.