The deal, the terms of which weren’t announced, means an end of a tumultuous chapter for Element AI, a research-first company founded in 2016 which raised more than US$250 million from the likes of Intel, Microsoft and Tencent. The transaction is expected to close in early 2021, and could see a reduction of about half of Element AI’s current staffing levels in Montreal. According to The Globe and Mail, a number of employees received termination notices within hours of the deal’s announcement, with Element AI telling employees their stock options were “void and cancelled… with no value in lieu provided” in the deal. (The Logic, TechCrunch, The Globe and Mail)

Talking point: The acquisition comes after a difficult four years for Element AI. Co-founded by AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio, the firm was notably celebrated by the federal government as a redoubt for made-in-Canada AI research. Yet it was never able to fully monetize the hype, despite a revamped business plan. Element AI is ServiceNow’s fourth AI acquisition this year, as the California company looks to bulk up the AI capabilities of its products.