Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it has acquired a small San Francisco-based startup called Lobe Artificial Intelligence Inc. as part of its continuing push to help people create deep learning models more easily.

Lobe has created a platform that lets users build, train and deploy custom deep learning models using a simple drag-and-drop interface that requires virtually no coding expertise.

Deep learning, a subset of machine learning that’s concerned with algorithms inspired by the structure and function of the human brain, is used to create artificial neural networks. It’s essentially a technique that allows computers to do what comes naturally to humans: learn by example.

Deep learning has a wide range of applications. With driverless cars for example, it can teach them to recognize a stop sign, or to distinguish a pedestrian from a lamppost. Deep learning is also critical to voice control in consumer devices like phones, tablets, TVs and hands-free speakers as it allows these systems to understand what people are saying to them.

Deep learning has already progressed pretty far, but Microsoft Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott said in a blog post the process of developing and building deep learning systems remains complex and slow. As a result, very few have been able to access its potential, Scott said.

Lobe’s platform could help to change that. According to Scott, all users have to do is specify the kind of deep learning model they want to create, select the appropriate training examples, and the software will do the rest. Once the training is done, the model can be exported directly into developers’ applications.

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller said Microsoft was motivated by the growing realization that there simply aren’t enough data scientists and developers around to build all of the AI that enterprises are going to need for the next wave of digital transformation.

“So the race is on for the business user, and Microsoft’s acquisition of Lobe is addressing exactly that,” Mueller said. “Enabling business users to build their own AI applications is the true democratization of AI in the enterprise.”

Mueller added that companies such as Microsoft that can get business users to build their own AI-powered apps will also overcome another key problem: the issue of trust in AI. “Obviously if you have built an AI app by yourself and tested it, you trust it to work,” he said.

Although it’s now a part of Microsoft, Lobe will continue to operate as a standalone service, the company’s team (pictured, including VR pioneer and Microsoft Research interdisciplinary scientist Jaron Lanier, far right) said in its own blog post.

“As part of Microsoft, Lobe will be able to leverage world-class AI research, global infrastructure, and decades of experience building developer tools,” Lobe’s team said. “Together we are committed to making deep learning simple, understandable, and accessible to everyone.”

Lobe is just the latest AI firm to catch Microsoft’s attention. In recent months the software giant has shown a keen interest in startups involved in this emerging technology. For example, the company snapped up natural language processing company Semantic Machines Inc. in May. Then in July, it bought a company called Bonsai AI Inc. that specializes in machine learning and reinforcement learning.

Images: Lobe