Why Twitter just bought an artificial-intelligence start-up called MAGIC PONY

With Twitter’s stock in the gutter and investors clambering for a turnaround, C.E.O. Jack Dorsey has embarked on an acquisition spree that could give 2013-era Marissa Mayer a run for her money. Fresh off a $70 million investment in audio-streaming service SoundCloud, Twitter announced Monday that it has purchased Magic Pony, a British artificial-intelligence start-up, for a reported $150 million. Magic Pony is the third machine-learning start-up Twitter has purchased in as many years. Prior to buying up Magic Pony, Twitter bought A.I. start-ups Madbits in 2014 and Whetlab a year later.

“Today, we’re very excited to announce that we’re expanding our capabilities in machine learning,” Dorsey wrote on Twitter. “Magic Pony’s technology—based on research by the team to create algorithms that can understand the features of imagery—will be used to enhance our strength in live and video and opens up a whole lot of exciting creative possibilities for Twitter. The team includes 11 PhDs with expertise across computer vision, machine learning, high-performance computing, and computational neuroscience, who are alumni of some of the top labs in the world.“

Magic Pony, whose image-processing technology could be used to improve Twitter’s video capabilities, comes as Dorsey is under increased pressure to drive new users to the social messaging platform by expanding into hosting live events. Dorsey recently inked a deal with the N.F.L., which will allow Twitter to stream 10 Thursday Night Football games during the 2016 season—its first foray into broadcasting and live video outside of its acquisition of Periscope. The hope is that N.F.L. fans, who may not necessarily be already-existing Twitter users, will start engaging on the platform once they’re watching games there. But Dorsey still has a ways to go in turning Twitter into a destination for live video events, as opposed to just a home for the online conversations that follow them. Facebook, of course, is also diving headfirst into live video, arguably more aggressively than Twitter has. Magic Pony could be a boon to Twitter as the two social media giants go head-to-head.

(VANITY FAIR)