IBM invests $240mn into joint AI research project with MIT

American technology giant IBM is partnering with Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a $240mn investment over 10 years for a research project into artificial intelligence.

Having fallen behind in the industry to Google, Microsoft and Facebook, IBM is looking to use the university to help prove its Watson AI Health programme can justify the hype in treating cancer.

The new MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab will bring together 100 academies which will then focus on research in various AI areas - new algorithms, hardware, social impact and business applications.

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Experimenting with deep learning algorithms, whilst attempting to study quantum computing, will be at the forefront of what IBM and MIT are hoping to achieve.

"Through the richness of this enterprise with MIT, we can study the intersection of quantum and AI," read an IBM press release.

"Both MIT and IBM have been pioneers in artificial intelligence research, and the new AI lab builds on a decade-long relationship between the two."