Huawei is partnering with the University of California, Berkeley to foster a research and development initiative on artificial intelligence (AI).

The initial funding is $1 million, which will help materialize the strategic partnership of Huawei’s Noah’s Ark Laboratory and Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR), TechCrunch reported.

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The basic research partnership will cover areas on deep learning, machine learning, reinforcement learning, natural language processing and computer vision, among others. 

The partnership aims to make AI concepts real and be part of everyday lives. In addition, it is also seen as a stretegy to develop key technologies out of theoretical models. Both Huawei and University of California want to create AI systems that will have practical application to the society instead of developing the most intelligent machine, according to Android Authority. 

“The two parties believe that this strategic partnership will fuel the advancement of AI technology and create completely new experiences for people, thus contributing greatly to society at large,” said Huawei in a statement.

BAIR has more than 30 faculty members and over 100 graduates who apply AI in diverse subjects, from robotics to cyber security. On the other hand, Noah’s Ark Lab specializes in data mining and machine learning, which has been widely used in Huawei's mobile devices to improve telecom networks and cloud computing products.

Huawei did not mention the exact plans of where to apply the results of the AI collaboration, though.

Amid the boom in digital assistant technology, Huawei is likely to introduce AI features in its smartphones. This latest move from the Chinese tech firm has hinted about its ambition to take the path dominated by Google, which recently launched Allo and Google Assistant, as well as Apple’s Siri that is already popular in the virtual assistant space.

TagsHuawei, UC Berkeley, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Berkeley AI Lab, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, AI research