Micron said in October it plans to invest up to $100 million in startups focusing on artificial intelligence, while Intel's venture capital arm has funneled more than $1 billion in recent years into the technology.

Canada's federal government has set up a CAD$125 million (US$93 million) fund to support academic and research activities in artificial intelligence (AI). The investment will put the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) in charge of bolstering the country's resources in AI. The institute will use the money to increase the number of post-graduate trainees and researchers studying artificial intelligence, and promote collaboration between the country's major technology research universities in Montreal, Toronto-Waterloo, and Edmonton. "The Canadian government clearly recognizes the importance of artificial intelligence," said Dr. Alan Bernstein, President and CEO of CIFAR. "It will help build a stronger and more innovative economy, create high value jobs, improve transportation, and lead to better and more efficient healthcare and social services."

Despite, or perhaps because of, the great strides made in the field of AI in recent years, for many people, the words still conjure up images of a "Terminator"-like sci-fi dystopia where sentient machines are mercilessly hunting humans down. These potential misgivings about what an AI-dominated world would be like are not alleviated when the likes of Stephen Hawking warn AI "could spell the end of the human race." In order to address concerns related to ethics and safety of AI, a group led by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and the Omidyar network -- an investment firm set up by eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar -- announced the creation of a $27 million research fund called the Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund. In a statement released Tuesday, the Knight Foundation -- the U.S. nonprofit that's also involved in the initiative -- said that in addition to researching the development of AI from a humanities and social sciences point of view, the fund will also support AI ethics and governance projects, both in the U.S. and internationally. "Artificial intelligence agents will impact our lives in every society on Earth. Technology and commerce will see to that," Alberto Ibargüen, president of Knight Foundation, said in the statement.

Mojtaba Arvin is a computer programmer who's fascinated by artificial intelligence . Right now, he spends his time as an information technology student .

Nearly four years ago, Dmitry Grishin launched a US 25 million fund to invest exclusively in consumer robots. Grishin, the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Mail.ru, the Russian Internet giant, believed that robotics was going to be one of the next big technology revolutions, and he was willing to put his money where his mouth was. Now the Russian investor is ready to double down on his vision. Grishin Robotics has recently announced a second fund four times as large as the original one. The new 100 million fund will seek Series A and B deals and expand its focus to include startups in markets like connected devices, collaborative and material-handling robots, AI and data analytics, and industrial Internet of Things.