Google Brain co
Andrew Ng
By  Stephen Nellis
(Reuters) - Andrew Ng  who formerly led artificial intelligence projects at Alphabet Inc's Google and Chinese firm Baidu Inc   has raised a $175 million fund to invest in AI startups  starting with one of  his  own aimed at computers detecting defects in products.
 Ng  announced Tuesday that  he  raised money from venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates  Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners as well as SoftBank Group Corp.
In an interview with Reuters   Ng  said  his  goal was to identify new business ideas around artificial intelligence and be able to put cash into them quickly from the so-called AI Fund  of which  he  will serve as general partner  so that founders of the portfolio companies will not need to burn time pitching traditional venture capitalists.
 Ng  said  he  plans to draw on  his  experience at Baidu  one of China's largest internet companies  where  he  led the artificial intelligence team to develop a range of new business lines. Under  Ng   Baidu released a voice-based operating system that users can talk to - much like Amazon's Alexa voice assistant or Apple's Siri - and also started working on self-driving cars and face recognition technology to open things like transit turnstiles when users approach.
âBased on that experience  I have an unusual point of view on the building of AI businesses. I think itâs a more systematic  repeatable process than most people think " said  Ng   who also taught artificial intelligence courses at Stanford University.
The first company to receive money from the fund will be Landing.ai  a company  Ng  founded. Landing.ai is working with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd  better known as electronics assembler Foxconn  on using artificial intelligence to make factories more efficient.
By   [TGT] 
has raised a $175 million fund to invest in AI startups  starting with one of   [TGT]   own aimed at computers detecting defects in products.
 Ng  announced Tuesday that  he  raised money from venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates  Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners as well as SoftBank Group Corp.
In an interview with Reuters   Ng  said  his  goal was to identify new business ideas around artificial intelligence and be able to put cash into them quickly from the so-called AI Fund  of which  he  will serve as general partner  so that founders of the portfolio companies will not need to burn time pitching traditional venture capitalists.
 Ng  said  he  plans to draw on  his  experience at Baidu  one of China's largest internet companies  where  he  led the artificial intelligence team to develop a range of new business lines. Under  Ng   Baidu released a voice-based operating system that users can talk to - much like Amazon's Alexa voice assistant or Apple's Siri - and also started working on self-driving cars and face recognition technology to open things like transit turnstiles when users approach.
âBased on that experience  I have an unusual point of view on the building of AI businesses. I think itâs a more systematic  repeatable process than most people think " said  Ng   who also taught artificial intelligence courses at Stanford University.
The first company to receive money from the fund will be Landing.ai  a company  Ng  founded. Landing.ai is working with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd  better known as electronics assembler Foxconn  on using artificial intelligence to make factories more efficient.