Apple is facing tough competition when it comes to smartphone features. While Google-developed smartphones are able to follow commands immediately, it seems that Apple thinks that it must go beyond just voice assistant Siri, or at least the current version of Siri, to compete with such functions. The goal now is also to be able to deliver to users what they want even as they have yet to ask for them.
According to a Business Today report, the Cupertino-based tech giant is looking into hiring at least 86 more employees in the field of artificial intelligence. Apple has posted job openings in hiring sites, adding to the fierce competition among tech giants in getting the experts for their technological developments. Apple is also pursuing experts in machine learning, joining Google and Facebook in the tight competition.
Meeting Apple's goal, however, may prove to be more challenging than it seems. The company's parameters on privacy may make it unable to really compete with other smartphone makers in this regard. Machine learning gives users what they want to be based on the system's experience with the user. This means that information about the user is processed and sent to the cloud. Apple, however, analyzes the behavior of its users within its own constraints to protect their data.
"They want to make a phone that responds to you very quickly without knowledge of the rest of the world," Joseph Gonzalez, co-founder machine learning startup, Dato. Gonzalez stated that it is definitely more difficult to deliver that kind of feature given the constraints. While the company's next steps have not been discussed in full detail, its Sept. 9 event, which sees the launch of Apple's upcoming smartphones and products, may shed light to the direction Apple will be taking.
Apple is holding the event in San Francisco, and in it, the company will be launching the iPhone 6S along with its other devices like the much-awaited Apple TV. Recently, Apple has been reported to have lost the top spot on smartphone sales to Android in Australia. With the Apple event and its new releases, it's a wait and see whether Apple can regain its crown.
