MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Singularity University (SU) today announced that it has acquired the Singularity Summit, one of the premier annual conferences focused on Artificial Intelligence, founded by the Singularity Institute (SI) in 2006.

The acquisition furthers SU's founding goal to provide the tools and thinking necessary to solve humanity's greatest challenges, while SI transitions to a more research-focused organization. It also enables SU to broaden its global offerings to include an expanded Summit, designed around the tracks of study currently offered at SU: AI and Robotics, Energy & Environmental Systems; Biotechnology and Bioinformatics; Medicine & Neuroscience; Networks and Computing, Nanotechnology, Entrepreneurship, and Design.

"The mission of Singularity University is to equip leaders with awareness about the disruptive implications and opportunities of accelerating technologies and to help empower them to become high-impact innovators," said CEO Rob Nail. "Our acquisition of the Singularity Summit will be a valuable asset as we continue to enrich our educational content and innovation pipeline, and expand our global network. We are also proud to support ongoing serious research on the implications of AI for which SI is well respected."

As part of the agreement, Singularity University will also acquire the Singularity Institute brand, including the singularity.org domain. The current Singularity Institute organization will continue operations under a new brand to be determined, and will remain as co-producers of the Singularity Summit in some succeeding years.

"The meaning of the word 'Singularity' has broadened since the Singularity Institute was founded in 2000 to investigate the science and ethics of self-improving artificial intelligence," said Luke Muehlhauser, Executive Director of the Singularity Institute. "We are pleased that we can transition the popular Singularity Summit conference to an organization with a strong commitment to maintaining its quality as it grows. The funding we receive from SU will in turn help us grow our own technical research program -- in fact, we are looking to hire mathematicians and theoretical computer scientists. We will also change our name so that there is no future confusion about the identity of the two organizations."

The Singularity Summit was founded in 2006, by Ray Kurzweil, also a co-founder of Singularity University and its current Chancellor, and Peter Thiel, co-founder of Paypal and a leading thinker and venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.

About the Singularity Institute

The Singularity Institute is one of the world's leading research institutes devoted to studying the societal consequences of advanced Artificial Intelligence. The organization promotes awareness of the potential consequences of advanced artificial intelligence, both positive and negative, and funds technical research intended to ensure that the creation of advanced artificial intelligence has a positive outcome.

About Singularity University

Singularity University's mission is to assemble, educate, and inspire a new generation of leaders in business, science, finance, and government who strive to understand and use exponentially advancing technologies to address humanity's grand challenges. Since 2009, SU has hosted students and industry leaders from more than 70 countries at its campus at NASA Research Park, Moffett Field, CA. Corporate Partners include Autodesk, Cisco, Credit Union Roundtable, ePlanet Ventures, GE, Genentech, Google, Intelius, Kauffman Foundation, Nokia, Steelcase, and Triple Ring Technologies.

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Singularity University Acquires the Singularity Summit