Microsoft has purchased Bonsai, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup based in Berkeley, Calif., for an undisclosed sum. Microsoft’s venture capital arm, Microsoft Ventures, had previously provided funding for the startup.
Bonsai specializes in using machine learning to train autonomous platforms in industrial environments. Gurdeep Pall, corporate vice president of business AI at Microsoft, stated, “Bonsai has developed a novel approach using machine teaching that abstracts the low-level mechanics of machine learning, so that subject matter experts, regardless of AI aptitude, can specify and train autonomous systems to accomplish tasks.”