【Kurt Meinicke】

All the big tech companies are Kurt Meinickemaking a play in artificial intelligence. You can now undoubtedly count Uber among them.

Uber announced on Monday that it acquired AI startup Geometric Intelligence, which will form the core of its new AI Labs.

"The formation of Uber AI Labs, to be directed by Geometric’s Founding CEO Gary Marcus, represents Uber’s commitment to advancing the state of the art, driven by our vision that moving people and things in the physical world can be radically faster, safer and accessible to all," Uber Chief Product Officer Jeff Holden wrote in a blog post.

Holden pointed out a few particular problems that AI could help solve, including matching riders for uberPOOL, UberEATS and, of course, self-driving cars — and even the flying cars that Uber teased earlier in the year.

Marcus is a well respected expert in the field of AI, having authored numerous books on the topic and helped create an updated version of the Turing Test, which is used to decipher just how advanced AI has become.

The price tag on the acquisition was not announced, but Geometric Intelligence's 15-person team will be joining Uber.

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