Now that data is the new oil, AI software startups are sprouting across the tech terrain like pumpjacks in Texas. A whopping $80 billion in venture capital is fueling as many as 12,000 new companies. Only a few will tap a gusher. Those who do, experts say, will practice six key success factors. Some of the biggest wins will come from startups with AI apps that "turn an existing provider on its head by figuring out a new approach for call centers, healthcare or whatever it is," said Rajeev Madhavan who manages a $300 million fund at Clear Ventures, nurturing nine AI startups.

Santa Clara based Hotify Inc, an Artificial Intelligence Platform as a Service (AI PaaS) company, announced it has joined the NVIDIA Inception program. The program is conducted by NVIDIA, a pioneer in 3D GPUs and AI Computing, to recognize exceptional startups in the Artificial Intelligence space. Hotify Inc is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software company and is the developer of NuGene, a cognitive Automation platform which can be used to develop fast and robust Intelligence Agents (Bots) in minutes. The selection of Hotify involved multiple rounds of information exchange including telephonic interaction. "We are happy to become part of this program. Working closely with NVIDIA shall help us in building AI Platform for scale. Getting selected in this program also is a good validation of our focus, approach and offerings. We aim to gain from early developers access of NVIDIA technology, their Go to Market help and vast knowledge repository," said Chinmay Joshi, Co-Founder, VP Product & Engineering, Hotify.

Nvidia is tracking more than 2,800 companies through its Inception program, which was created to identify the best artificial intelligence startups. It does so to find investment opportunities, but the world's biggest standalone maker of graphics processing units (GPUs) also knows that these startups will use its technology for AI computing. I headed out to Nvidia's new headquarters in Santa Clara, California, last week to watch pitches from 12 companies in a Shark Tank-styled judging event. The 12 presenters were chosen from 200 applicants and are vying for a $1 million prize pool. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang introduced a panel of four judges and said he was glad that he didn't have to go through this kind of process when he cofounded Nvidia in 1993.

Yet this common disease of the bones is one of the most difficult to detect and prevent in its early stages. In the U.S. alone, osteoarthritis is responsible for the majority of total knee and hip replacements. The most prevalent form of the disease affects the knees, occurring in 10 percent of men and 13 percent of women over the age of 60. These numbers are only expected to grow due to aging populations and the obesity epidemic -- with huge costs on public health systems and well-being. Hoping to turn this trend around, ImageBiopsy Lab, an Austrian startup and member of our Inception program, is using deep learning to diagnose osteoarthritis of the knees much more efficiently and cost-effectively.

If culture is a set of beliefs and behaviors that people pass from one generation to another, then is artificial intelligence becoming one? AI is certainly changing how people think about and interact with technology. Talking to your phone and expecting an intelligent response has quickly shifted from novelty to routine expectation. Self-driving vehicles orienting themselves in the physical world will soon shuttle us all over, changing how millions of commute hours are spent and our relationship with cars themselves. Inherent in AI is a capacity to learn, and to use this knowledge to advance the tasks it's been assigned to tackle.

Nvidia has come across more than 1,300 AI startups in its Inception program, but the graphics and AI chip maker believes that there aren't enough artificial intelligence startups out there. Jeff Herbst, vice president of business development, said that Nvidia wants to partner with venture capitalists to fund even more AI startups that will build out the necessary parts of the ecosystem for AI, which is expected to become a huge part of the technology landscape going forward. He said the doors are open to partnering because there are so many more startups than Nvidia can help or finance on its own. Nvidia held a lunch on Thursday at its GPU Technology Conference to enlist dozens of venture capitalists in its crusade to change the world through artificial intelligence. Five startups made presentations to the VCs during the lunch, and Herbst spoke with Jim McHugh, general manager of Nvidia's deep learning group, about the trends that will create opportunities for AI startups in the future.

By happy circumstance, Santa Clara-based chip maker NVIDIA finds itself in the position of being an artificial intelligence (AI) startup king maker. The company designs and manufactures the entire computing platform for deep learning, the fastest growing field in AI, building everything from graphics processing units (GPUs) to software to systems purpose-built for deep learning. As the name might suggest, GPUs were developed to improve the computer graphics experience by offloading certain computationally intense image processing tasks from the standard central processing unit (CPU). The particular strength of a GPU is performing large numbers of parallel floating point calculations. This helps computer screens to increase in detail and complexity without sacrificing system performance, and modern gaming would not be possible without it.

Whether you're revolutionizing healthcare or disrupting the car insurance industry with AI, GPUs can help get you there faster. By filling out this form, you agree to receive email communications from NVIDIA.