Microsoft acquires Lobe to accelerate AI development

Artificial intelligence is really taking off these days and Microsoft is doing its best to be one of the leading forces in this market. Obviously, this involves taking over quite a few small companies that could help its the AI-related efforts of the tech giant based in Redmond. Now, the time has come for Lobe to join Microsoft.

According to Microsoft's blog post about this acquisition, "Lobe is working to make deep learning simple, understandable and accessible to everyone." Thanks to the visual interface developed by this small company based in San Francisco, virtually anyone can develop and apply deep learning and AI models in a timely manner — without having to write a single line of code. Lobe's software solution can help its users to easily create intelligent apps that can read handwriting, hear music, understand hand gestures, and more. 

Unfortunately, the terms of the deal are not something for the public's eye. However, Microsoft will probably use Lobe's technology and the team that comes with it to improve its AI development capabilities. This acquisition arrives not long after Microsoft's similar deals with Semantic Machines (in May) and Bonsai (in July).