Chinese venture capital firm Gaorong Capital has joined CMB International to co-lead a RMB180 million (US$26 million) in Chinese artificial intelligence start-up Tianrang. Other investors Ziniu Fund and Chinese fintech company Wacai also participated in the round, according to Tianrang's announcement. Based on deep learning and other AI technology, Tianrang provides data analysis and smart solutions for enterprises. In one user case, Tianrang's technology can automatically collect and analyze marketing trends and purchase related information on Alibaba's e-commerce platform 24/7 to help vendors make smarter marketing decisions. "With algorithm and AI, Tianrang lowers the requirement of complex machine decision-making and makes it accessible and scalable for commercial use," said Wang Hongbo, chief investment officer at CMB International Capital.

Back in May, AlphaGo from Google, an AI algorithm that is part of DeepMind, defeated the human world champion Ke Jie in a three-part match. After it was over, Jie vowed never to play a computer again. But apparently something has changed his mind because Chinese news sources report that Jie will once again play an artificial intelligence at an AI tournament to be held in China in April 2018. Ke Jie is one of the tournament's ambassadors, and he will play against the AI Tianrang. Normally, a human representative places pieces on behalf of the AI, but in this case, a robotic arm developed by Fuzhou University will fulfill that role.