SAS Opens Wallet Wide with $1 Billion AI Investment

Analytics provider SAS has announced a $1 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI) over the next three years, which will cover software innovation, education, expert services and more.

The company sees AI as the future of analytics and already has a strong AI framework, with advanced analytics, machine and deep learning, natural language processing and computer vision systems.

“At SAS, we remain dedicated to our customers and their success, and this investment is another example of that commitment,” said SAS CEO Jim Goodnight. “With our innovative capabilities in AI, SAS helps businesses deter damaging fraud, fight deadly disease, better manage risk, provide exemplary service to customers and citizens, and much more.”

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SAS already invests almost double the industry average revenue back into research and development. This $1 billion investment is a characteristic move from the company and shows a commitment to AI as the future of the business.

“The reason SAS tops the revenue list for advanced analytics for the last five years is that SAS solutions are built on a foundation of machine learning and deep knowledge of analytics. These are part of SAS’ DNA,” said Dave Schubmehl, Research Director for Artificial Intelligence at IDC. “Combining SAS’ knowledge and technology with its continued push to innovate in computer vison, NLP and deep learning will drive further adoption of AI across multiple industries. And it will help companies interested in AI – whether early in their AI and analytics life cycle or more mature.”

AI is still a difficult and high-level industry, SAS wants to make it easier for business experts and data scientists to understand and utilize the technology. It will also start embedding AI capabilities into the SAS Platform, improving solutions for data management, customer intelligence, fraud and security intelligence and risk management.