Apple is the one that buys the most AI companies in the world
The revelation came in the latest report from Global Data, with data compiled between 2016 and 2020: the Apple is the company that has bought the most Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies in the world in the last four years. Of the 60 latest acquisitions made by the group of five companies that spent the most in the segment – Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Accenture -, 25 were handled by the Cupertino brand.
And they were nothing less than 100 in the last six years, according to Tim Cook himself, CEO of Apple. "THE Apple went on a shopping spree trying to catch up with Google (Google Assistant) and Amazon (Alexa). Siri was first to market, but it consistently lags behind both in terms of “intelligence,” which is partly why Apple is far behind in smart speaker sales,” commented Nicklas Nilsson, senior analyst at GlobalData.
According to the GlobalData executive, the range of companies that were part of the purchase plan Apple is quite extensive, and with the most diverse functionalities to try to put Siri on the same level as other artificial intelligences on the market. “Machine learning startup Inductiv was acquired to improve Siri’s data, Irish voice technology startup Voysis was acquired to improve Siri’s natural language understanding, and PullString should make Siri easier to use for iOS developers,” he explained.
Fixed idea
the work of Apple to enhance Siri and increase the virtual assistant's AI is old. A 2019 report from CB Insights found that since 2010, the year in which Apple bought Siri, the Cupertino company invested more in artificial intelligence than Facebook, Google, ecosystem and Amazon. “AI continues to be a key focus area for tech giants, and the growing competition to dominate the space has resulted in a wave of acquisitions among these companies,” commented Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData.
The investments of Apple were also dedicated to improving the quality of wearables, especially Apple Watch. It is no wonder that the company is sales leader of this market segment. “The acquisition of Xnor.ai last year was made to enhance its edge processing capabilities, which became important because it eliminates the need to send data to the cloud, thus improving data privacy,” concluded Bose.
The GlobalData report also showed that both the Apple Other companies that are leaders in the AI purchasing segment are also investing heavily in hiring employees and creating new job openings. An analysis of data showed that the five companies created 14 new AI job positions during 2020.
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