Google on Wednesday announced a deal to buy Moodstocks, a French startup behind technology that helps smartphones recognize whatever they are aimed at.

Moodstocks caught the US technology giant's eye for its work in computer vision and machine learning, as well for accomplishments in enabling smartphones or other mobile devices to recognize images and objects.

Google is among Silicon Valley titans investing in ways to get computers to see and understand the world around them the way people do.

French startup Moodstocks has developed technology that helps smartphones recognize whatever they are aimed at

GOOGLE'S HOME ASSISTANT Google and its parent Alphabet are expected to integrate the image search team in artificial intelligence efforts. At its annual developers conference in May, Google unveiled a virtual home assistant device that will challenge Amazon Echo. Google Home, about the size of a stout vase, will hit the market later this year and will incorporate new virtual assistant software. When Home hits, it will challenge Amazon Echo voice-controlled assistants that have proven to be a hit since the Seattle-based online retail colossus unveiled them two years ago. Advertisement

Machine learning has been woven into an array of Google offerings, such as its free language translation and photo services.

'Ever since we started Moodstocks, our dream has been to give eyes to machines by turning cameras into smart sensors able to make sense of their surroundings,' the French firm said

'After introducing on-device image recognition in 2012, we've been working on extending our reach to object recognition for the past 2.5 years, using deep learning based approaches.

'Today, we're thrilled to announce that we’ve reached an agreement to join forces with Google in order to deploy our work at scale.

'We expect the acquisition to be completed in the next few weeks.

The Moodstocks team, described as a small group of researchers and engineers, will join a Google research and development center in Paris, according to Google France tech site lead Vincent Simonet.

'There's a lot more to be done to improve machine vision,' he said

'That's where Moodstocks comes in.'

Moodstocks' API and SDK will be discontinued 'soon', according to an announcement on the company's homepage.

'Our focus will be to build great image recognition tools within Google, but rest assured that current paying Moodstocks customers will be able to use it until the end of their subscription,' the company noted.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Google and its parent Alphabet are expected to integrate the image search team in artificial intelligence efforts.

Mario Queiroz showed off the new Google speaker, called Google Home, that will be released later this year.

TWITTER'S MAGIC PONY Twitter has added another machine learning startup to its flock. London-based Magic Pony Technology was purchased by the social media network for a reported $150 million. This move will enhance Twitters's strength in video, as the startup's technology improves the quality of videos captured with low-resolution cameras by recognizing patterns and textures. Advertisement

At its annual developers conference in May, Google unveiled a virtual home assistant device that will challenge Amazon Echo.

Google Home, about the size of a stout vase, will hit the market later this year and will incorporate new virtual assistant software.

When Home hits, it will challenge Amazon Echo voice-controlled assistants that have proven to be a hit since the Seattle-based online retail colossus unveiled them two years ago.

Many Internet companies are exploring the promise of artificial intelligence -- for example, smartphone applications that can learn a user's habits and anticipate searches and requests.

Microsoft, Apple, and Google have each created their own virtual assistants for users.

Google boss Sundar Pichai took to the stage at a giant outdoor amphitheatre holding 7,000 next to Google's Silicon Valley HQ to unveil the Google Assistant and Google Home speaker earlier this year, alongside a new version of Android and a virtual reality headsets for mobile phones.

The firm is aiming squarely at Amazon's Echo with the home speaker, which has Amazon's Alexa assistant built in.

Facebook is also developing AI bots that will run inside its Messenger app, Mark Zuckerberg revealed at its developed conference last week.

However, Google believes its search engine and AI experience will give it a huge advantage.

The Amazon Tap (left) is a portable version of the 9.25-inch Echo that sells for $130, while the $90 Echo Dot (right) can be plugged into any speaker. at are designed to amplify the role that its voice-controlled assistant Alexa plays in people's homes and lives. They will now complete

'We want to be there for users, asking them 'Hi, how can I help',' said Pichai, who took over as Google boss when the firm reorganised as Alphabet earlier this year.

'We want users to have an ongoing 2 way dialogue with Google.'

Pichai showed the system using its smart assistant to book cinema tickets, downloading them automatically.

Mario Queiroz showed off the new Google speaker, called Google Home, that will be released later this year.

'I should be able to interact without a phone,' he said.

Users will be able to simply talk to the speaker, telling it what to do or asking it questions in normal English.

The gadget is also a high quality speaker, Google claims, allowing users to play back music from online services of a phone.