Apple has been bringing its voice assistant, Siri, everywhere. The virtual concierge has ben integrated not only in iPhones and iPads but also in the tech company's other products such as the Apple TV and most recently reported, auto technology. Indeed, Siri is poised to be doing many things at a time, so the Cupertino giant has been woking to constantly make Siri smarter.
With its newest acquisition, however, Apple Inc. is looking into making Siri more human. The US company has acquired UK-based VocalIQ, a company specializing in artificial intelligence which uses voice command and interaction. According to ITPro Portal, the idea behind the acquisition is to improve how users interact with Apple's voice assistant.
With VocalIQ employed into the further development of Siri, users will be able to carry a more natural conversation with the virtual concierge. The deal has reportedly cost Apple between $50 million and $100 million. The speech technology company has been making systems which enable users to better converse with their devices, as opposed to just taking commands.
Apple Inc. has earlier been reported to be expanding the company's team of artificial intelligence experts to make its devices smarter. A Siri that is a lot more intuitive is certainly a smart move for the company, especially since voice assistants like Cortana and Google Now are being seen as the preferred technology of that sort. Apple has not divulged further information regarding the new purchase and just said in BGR, "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."
Neither Apple nor VocalIQ have said anything regarding the acquisition as of yet. VocalIQ is described as a "world leading team in dialogue management with technology which improve man machine interactions substantially" by company director Hermann Hauser.
