Apple’s new acquisition could make Siri more like a real person

A report from the Financial Times (paywall; via Re/code) has revealed that Apple had recently acquired a UK-based speech technology startup called VocalIQ.

According to its website, VocalIQ is working on “a smart platform that learns your natural conversation flow – and uses it to control your devices”.

The acquisition could help Apple’s efforts to bolster Siri, which is controlled by voice commands and sometimes struggles to understand users.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our goal or plans”, said Colin Johnson, a company spokesman. VocalIQ uses machine learning to build virtual assistants that try to recreate the type of talking computers that appear in science-fiction films such as Samantha in Her or Jarvis in Iron Man. The deal marks Apple’s third acquisition of a United Kingdom company this year.

In a blog earlier this year, VocalIQ described how a “conversational voice-dialog system” in a car’s navigation system could prevent drivers from becoming distracted by looking at screens.

Enhancing Siri’s ability to better understand what people are asking – or to follow up with questions when its unclear – would touch virtually everything Apple does, from its iPhones and the Apple Watch to the electric vehicle it still has under wraps. VocalIQ’s team, however, is expected to remain in the United Kingdom rather than being moved to Apple’s USA headquarters. VocalIQ has been critical of popular voice assistants such as Siri, calling it a toy.