Silicon Valley giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple are investing more of their time and resources into artificial intelligence (AI) research in the hope that it will improve their existing products and lead to new ones.
But they're far from the only ones aiming to create machines that can learn and think for themselves.
A new generation of technology startups in Britain are focusing their efforts on developing products and services that are underpinned by AI, which has the potential to change the way we live our lives. Unfortunately, it also has the potential to end the human race if you listen to what billionaires like Elon Musk and intellects like Stephen Hawking have to say.
Here are 10 of the most interesting British AI startups to watch out for in 2016.
DeepMind — on a mission to solve general intelligence
Founded: 2011
Founders: Shane Legg, Mustafa Suleyman, Demis Hassabis
Headquartered: King's Cross, London
Funding to date: acquired by Google for a reported £400 million
Google-owned startup DeepMind, a group of approximately 140 people aiming to "solve intelligence," is arguably one of the most interesting technology companies operating in the UK right now.
Google bought DeepMind last year for a reported £400 million. Today it is using the company's technology across its organisation to make many of its best-known products and services smarter than they previously were. For example, it is starting to use DeepMind's algorithms to power its recommendation engines and improve image recognition on platforms like Google+.
Magic Pony Technology — video compression platform
Founded: 2014
Founders: Dr. Zehan Wang, Rob Bishop
Headquartered: Kensington Olympia, London
Funding to date: Undisclosed
Magic Pony Technology is pioneering a new approach to video compression by combining machine learning and computer vision research.
The company was founded by Rob Bishop who holds a masters degree in signal processing and Zehan Wang who holds a PhD in visual information processing.
The company recently raised one of the largest seed rounds in Europe, at $2 million (£1.3 million).
Status Today — security startup that watches human behaviour
Founded: 2015
Founders: Ankur Modi and Mircea Dumitrescu
Headquartered: Liverpool Street, London
Funding to date: Undisclosed
Status Today claims on its website that it employs a unique approach to security.
The company analyses behavior in the context of humans and their intended actions to protect individuals and the company they work for.
Using machine learning techniques and "organisational human behaviour analysis," Status Today claims it can detect any possible malicious behavior, no matter how big or small.
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