Apple Acquired Machine Learning Startup Inductiv for Siri Improvements

Apple recently purchased Ontario-based machine learning startup Inductiv for the purpose of improving Siri, reports Bloomberg.

siri waveform
Apple confirmed the purchase with one of its typical acquisition statements: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

Inductiv's engineering team joined Apple after the acquisition to work on ‌Siri‌, machine learning, and data science at the company. Prior to the purchase, Inductiv created technology that used AI to automate identifying and correcting errors in data for machine learning purposes. From Bloomberg:

Having clean data is important for machine learning, a popular and powerful type of AI that helps software improve with less human invention.

The work falls under the category of data science, a key element of Apple's broader machine-learning strategy.

Apple's Siri chief John Giannandrea, who is also responsible for machine learning, has been upgrading the underlying technology that ‌Siri‌ is based on with acquisitions of companies like Inductiv.

Apple has purchased multiple AI and machine learning-related companies over the course of the last several years, such as Voysis, Xnor.ai, Turi, Perceptio, Tuplejump, and more.

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Top Rated Comments

GeoStructural Avatar
61 months ago
Yeah they keep acquiring start-ups and Siri is still dumb in comparison with Alexa, Cortana and Google Assistant.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
eicca Avatar
61 months ago
Given that autocorrect has gotten progressively WORSE over the years, I’m not holding my breath.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Howyalikdemapls Avatar
61 months ago
Every once in a while Siri is able to respond to me with an actual useful answer and it’s totally shocking because at this point I only expect her to make a stupid joke, not understand me, or blatantly tell me she can’t do it. I’ve pretty much given up hope at this point.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
61 months ago
Apple acquired John Giannandrea from Google about two years ago, Which I’m sure these overall changes take quite some time, but I use Siri every single day for dictation and overall, there are definitely areas of improvement, and it falls behind in some aspects, but I Think there’s huge Potential for AI in the future with Siri becoming far more advanced, maybe that’s what’s taking so long to see these changes, because it’s being ‘Overhauled‘, and it’s not really an overnight process.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JMO1 Avatar
61 months ago
i hope Siri starts to get better with all the acquisitions; we’ll be waiting
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
now i see it Avatar
61 months ago
It's doubtful anyone on earth really wants to work on fixing Siri. I'll bet the founders of this newly acquired company sold out for cash & bailed, leaving their employees to get sucked into the  vacuum.
Just a hunch. I have no facts to back it up
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)