Smarter Siri

BY SAMANTHA MURPHY KELLY

Apple's voice assistant Siri isn't exactly known for accuracy, but the company is reportedly looking to make her much smarter. And soon.

Apple is hiring a team of experts and researchers to ramp up Siri's next-generation software, which is said to work with neural network algorithms, according to a Wired report. This will make it much easier for the service to learn and understand spoken language with human-like speed. Some tasks like face recognition and speech are more complicated for a computer to recognize than the human brain.

Apple's move lets it catch up with some tech companies who have already experimented with the learning speech method. Android's Google Now has tested neural nets, as has Microsoft, which will be using it to run its real-time translation feature for Skype that will launch later this year.

The fact that Apple is hiring high-level staffers for the team means it's serious about growing its voice-recognition efforts. The fact that Apple is hiring high-level staffers for the team means it's serious about growing its voice-recognition efforts. It's unknown whether we will see a Siri reboot when iOS 8 officially launches in the fall.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nuance was looking to sell its business, and that both Apple and Samsung were interested; however, if these rumors are true, it looks like Apple might have the edge.