Salesforce ups its AI game by acquiring MetaMind

Since last year, Salesforce has been upping its AI game by acquiring deep learning and machine learning technologies. In March 2016 it acquired PredictionIO, an open source machine learning startup that uses artificial intelligence to speed software programming. In May last year it acquired Tempo AI, a startup with smart calendar application to integrate it with its own calendar app which automatically puts calendar meetings and appointments based on the user’s inputs.

The latest acquisition is of MetaMind, which helps enable business users with the state of the art deep learning technology to simplify, improve and automate decision-making. With this acquisition MetaMind and Salesforce will be able to offer clients real AI solutions with capabilities that further automate and personalize client support, marketing automation and business processes. Salesforce will be able to extending its data science capabilities by embedding deep learning within its platform. Along with deep learning, MetaMind also works on visual recognition of objects. Both attributes are a challenging topic that computer and data scientists are dealing with.

In a recent blog post by MetaMind, the CEO and founder Richard Socher claims that post integration unpaid web users will not be able to use MetaMind’s products as it will be discontinued by the 4^th of May. “For our monthly recurring users, MetaMind’s products will be discontinued on June 4. We’ll delete any data we have stored for unpaid web users and monthly recurring users promptly after close. We’ll be able to continue our journey at Salesforce on a much larger scale, with the resources and ecosystem of one of the world’s most innovative and influential enterprise software companies,” he says.

Socher also adds that MetaMind under Salesforce will be continuing its AI research, and the public will be able to see them publish groundbreaking discoveries that advance its deep learning platform’s accuracy and capabilities.