According to a new report by Xconomy (via AppleInsider) Apple has assembled a small team of reputable names in speech technology to work on improving its Virtual Assistant – Siri.
The report states that industry sources were unable to confirm exactly what the team is working on. However, online job profiles indicate Siri is the likely project.
“They won’t tell us what they’re doing,” Jim Glass, heads MIT’s Spoken Language Systems Group is reported to have said. “We can only guess.”
“Fittingly, the current Boston-area Apple speech team all once worked at VoiceSignal Technologies, a speech software company that was purchased for $293 million by Burlington, MA-based Nuance in 2007,” Curt Woodward reports for the Xconomy. “The group includes Gunnar Evermann, who stayed at Nuance for nearly four years before joining Apple in July 2011. Evermann previously worked for Apple in California, but moved back to the Boston area recently, helping to spark the company’s office in this area, sources said. His job is listed as – manager, Siri Speech.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook reported in the past that Siri along with iCloud are more than just products. There are strategies for the next decade.
