Future of AI: Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft team up in historic partnership

Tech giants Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft have formed an alliance to collaborate on artificial intelligence (AI). The self-governed pact encourages sharing of ideas and research related to AI and its future among these notable companies that are otherwise competitors.

The group, called Partnership On AI, will have equal share of corporate and non-corporate members in its projects and discussions. Research organisations such as the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence will support the cause. The companies are expected to provide monetary support towards the development of AI.

Apart from research, the group will build a trustworthy relationship with the public and educate them about machine learning. It would work towards changing the mindset of the people that believe machines take over our lives and complex tasks require human intervention.

"The reason we all work on AI is because we passionately believe its ability to transform our world. The positive impact of AI will depend not only on the quality of our algorithms, but the on the amount of public discussion ... to ensure AI is understood by and benefits as many people as possible," said Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind and co-chairman of the group.

All the companies currently possess technology based on AI, some of which have already been showcased like Google's DeepMind, IBM's Watson API, Microsoft Face API and Amazon's Echo, which is heavily dependent on machine learning.

Interestingly, Apple is missing from the list of founding companies, but reports indicate that it may soon join the group. In fact, the consortium is encouraging tech companies, research groups and nonprofit organisations to join the group.