Apple Working On Siri Improvements After Acquiring AI Startup Inductiv

Siri has been taking orders and answering questions far longer than other voice assistants in the market today. Apple launched the helpful feature in 2011 along with the iPhone 4S, way before Amazon could introduce the world to Alexa, and also before Google could launch the Google Assistant.

Years later, despite being known as Apple's voice assistant for iPhones, HomePods and more, Siri remains considered as “lagging behind” other digital assistants, Business Insider reported. The Cupertino tech giant's latest acquisition, however, indicates that the company wants to deal with that.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple recently acquired Inductiv Inc., a machine learning startup that has the technology to help improve Siri. The report reveals that Cupertino has confirmed the purchase, but refuses to discuss its plans regarding the newly acquired company.

Inductiv Inc.'s technology and focus, however, might give readers a glimpse as to what it could mean for the iPhone maker. As per Bloomberg, Inductiv Inc.'s technology uses artificial intelligence to automate the correcting of flaws in data.

The startup's employees recently updated their LinkedIn profiles to state that they are now working for Apple Inc., and that they have begun working for Cupertino in April or May. Bloomberg reported that Inductiv Inc.'s engineering team is working on several things, particularly Siri, machine learning and data science.

Hey, Siri

This is not the first time Apple made efforts to improve its voice assistant. The Cupertino tech giant already worked on several enhancements that, in one way or another, helped improve Siri overall.

For example, during the release of iOS 13 for the current flagship iPhone lineup, Siri also received a few improvements. These included a more natural-sounding voice, the ability to suggest that users create reminders based on their conversations in Messages, and added intelligence for improved suggestions in certain apps like Podcasts and Safari.

Apple's latest acquisition, which comes after it also acquired the DarkSky weather app and NextVR entertainment platform, just might give it what it needs to finally turn Siri into the voice assistant that everyone wants -- whether the consumer uses an Apple-branded device or not.