Apple have quietly acquired an artificial intelligence-based, self-learning, voice recognition startup, VocalIQ. Based in Cambridge in the UK, VocalIQ has put ten years of research and development into their intelligent API. Apple most likely will use this API, that learns from your language usage and semantics, to increase the functionality of voice assistant Siri. Whilst Siri is in dire need of improvement before being accepted as a fully-functioning virtual assistant, Apple’s VocalIQ acquisition is also set to be used across a wide range of other applications.

Bright Future Ahead

Apple’s not-so-secret automotive project, code name Titan, should benefit greatly from this new speech recognition technology. According to Forbes, VocalIQ had already been working with General Motors in 2014 on the integration of voice commands with existing and future automobiles. When considering that VocalIQ learns from all interactions, all recorded voice samples, it should be safe to say that big advancements to Siri are on their way! Apple’s voice-activated assistant currently receives a billion voice requests in a week, this data is sure to be invaluable to their new API. VocalIQ have supplied Apple with an API that is set to develop rapidly, thanks to its contextual learning capabilities. The sheer volume of data that Apple is sure to feed into their new API will hopefully bring breakthrough developments in voice recognition.

Global Advancement in Voice Recognition

Enhanced voice command functionality can benefit many of Apple’s productivity boosting-devices. Although the acquisition was confirmed by a statement in the Financial Times, no other official statements have been made from Apple, as is the case with most of their acquisitions. Despite the lack of information available regarding future plans for the VocalIQ API, one thing is for certain. Should Apple successfully engineer fully-functional voice recognition in pain-and-effort free manner, the way we use our devices will change completely on a global scale.