Patents can provide insights regarding the state of the art of artificial Intelligence (AI) technology innovation, and thus, a strategic move of a company for the AI innovation leadership. To compare the technology innovation strategy of the three leading companies in the AI business, Google, IBM and Microsoft, patent information is exploited for the cross-competitor analysis.

1. ©2016 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved http://www.techipm.com/
1
Google v. IBM v. Microsoft Artificial Intelligence Strategy Insights from Patents
Patents can provide insights regarding the state of the art of artificial Intelligence (AI) technology innovation, and
thus, a strategic move of a company for the AI innovation leadership. To compare the technology innovation
strategy of the three leading companies in the AI business, Google, IBM and Microsoft, patent information is
exploited for the cross-competitoranalysis.
According to Dr. Benjamin Gilad with the Academy of Competitive Intelligence, the goal of the cross-competitor
analysis is to enable one to simplify predictions of competitors’ moves and countermoves when multiple
competitors are involved. Through the cross-competitoranalysis, one can understand that: Competitors’ behavior
when there are several significant competitors; Paradigm shifts in industries undergoing rapid change or transition;
Entry of new competitors into the competitive landscape; Future directions in strategic move among industry
contenders. The strategic map is a toolused in the cross-competitoranalysis for visualizing the competitive
landscape: A chart for a strategic parameter No.1 (e.g. product/serviceportfolio, distribution channel etc.) vs. a
strategic parameter No.2 (e.g. product/serviceprice, quality, brand etc.).
To do the cross-competitoranalysis for the AI, US issued patents of Google, IBM and Microsoft that are related to
the AI are reviewed for identifying patents that cover the major AI technology innovations: machine learning,

2. ©2016 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved http://www.techipm.com/
2
neural network, expert system, fuzzy logic and genetic algorithm, and AI Applications. Totalof 1087 Google, IBM
and Microsoft patents are selected for the AI cross-competitoranalysis. The key AI patents of Google, IBM and
Microsoft account about 10% of total key AI issued patents in the US as of 1Q 2016.
Following figure shows the Activity Index vs. technology innovations strategic map for Google, IBM and
Microsoft. The size of the circle represents the total number of the patents for each technology innovation. Activity
Index is a measure of a company’s relative technology innovation activities in a specific technology innovation
field: Activity Index = share of a specific innovation sub-class in a company/share of a company’s patent in total
patents, where share of a specific innovation sub-class in a company = patents (innovation sub-class)/patents (a
company) and share of a company’s patent in total patents = patents (a company)/patents (total companies).

3. ©2016 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved http://www.techipm.com/
3

4. ©2016 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved http://www.techipm.com/
4
The map clearly shows each company’s competitive advantage in the major AI technology innovations. Google’s
AI technology innovation is focused on the neural network. In essence, a neural network is an attempt to simulate
the human brain. IBM’s AI technology innovation is focused on the genetic algorithm. A genetic algorithm is a
search heuristic that mimics the process ofnatural evolution, which used to generate useful solutions to complex
problems. Microsoft holds comparatively large patents in the machine learning. A machine learning refers to
intelligent systems that can learn from data, rather than merely follow explicit programmed instructions.