Payments platform Square recently announced it has acquired Dessa, which is described as a Toronto-based company building machine learning applications that address significant “real-world challenges” for all types of businesses. According to Square, the acquisition of Dessa will help the platform further boost its machine learning abilities, improve its products, and ultimately pass on the benefits to customers around the world. It was also revealed:
“Machine learning technology can help us enhance products in areas like customer engagement, risk management, and more. We plan to keep hiring top ML and AI talent moving forward to support both the Dessa team and other product teams at Square.”
Square further noted that to help with global deepfake detection efforts, Dessa recently open-sourced their detection technology to share their resources with engineers around the world and raise awareness about the misuse of deepfakes. The Square team then added:
“The Dessa team will continue working out of their office in Toronto, with no immediate changes to their existing products, customers, or business operations. Toronto is a global hub for machine learning research and development. We’re excited to expand our presence in the city’s growing tech sector by further investing in Canadian engineering talent.”
