Apple acquires AI startup Perceptio

Siri iOS 9

Following news last week that Apple acquired UK-based voice technology startup VocalIQ, Bloomberg reports that the company has also recently picked up AI startup Perceptio. A spokesman for Apple has confirmed the buyout with the usual boilerplate statement of “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”

Perceptio is a startup that has been developing technology to let companies run advanced artificial intelligence systems on smartphones without needing to share much user data. It’s not hard to imagine what Apple would want to do with this kind of tech, given its interest in the AI and digital assistant space, and its highly public stance on privacy and ongoing efforts to protect user data.

Although Apple seemingly set the tone for digital assistants with Siri back in 2011, it has since been surpassed in functionality by rival products from Google and Microsoft. The company continues to make though, as evidenced by the recently-released iOS 9 software update, and today’s Perceptio pickup is the second Siri-releated acquisition we’ve heard about just within the last week.

Source: Bloomberg