Apple has acquired Voysis, an artificial intelligence start-up, to improve the natural language skills of Siri, its personal digit assistant.
Bloomberg reports that the Ireland-based Voysis has developed a platform for digital voice assistants to better understand people’s natural language. The goal : improving digital assistants inside online shopping apps, so the software could respond more accurately to voice commands from users. The start-ups website (now gone) said the tech could narrow product search results by processing shopping phrases such as “I need a new LED TV” and “My budget is $1,000.”
Bloomberg says Apple could use the Voysis’ tech to improve Siri’s understanding of natural language or to offer the Voysis platform to thousands of developers that already integrate with the digital assistant.
Voysis’ mission statement reads (or read): “t Voysis, we believe voice will soon be the first point of contact between ‘man’ and machine. We believe that voice driven natural language interfaces will change the way people interact with consumer and enterprise facing applications by creating more intuitive, efficient, and personalized experiences. “We believe Voysis is the complete voice AI platform that will play a key role in bringing about this change. Our mission is to be the de-facto platform to enable any business to rapidly ‘stand up’ deep domain, brand-specific, intelligent voice systems enabling rich, natural language interactions between their brands and users.”
