Apple has reportedly begun development of an ‘enhanced’ version of Siri, which will debut on future iPhones, to combat the likes of Google Assistant.
As Android smartphone manufacturers either patiently wait for the release of Google Assistant or turn to the likes of Amazon’s Alexa to join the AI race, one missing competitor thus far has been Apple’s Siri.
Now, DigiTimes reports that Apple is readying an ‘enhanced’ version of Siri which will debut on future iPhones that will take the fight to not only Google or Amazon, but third-party additions such as Samsung’s rumoured Bixby AI companion.
Read: The smartphone race is over, but the AI war has just begun
Presently, little confirmation exists on what an ‘enhanced’ version of Siri could represent – on the one hand, Apple could be working to improve either voice recognition or better contextual understanding of requests made by either voice or text.
Apple purchased machine learning and AI startup Turi in August of 2016, leading to speculation that the company could leverage the startup to develop features comparable to what Google Assistant offers.
Apple isn’t the only smartphone manufacturer to be escalating its campaign to upset Google’s early lead; HTC revealed its own Sense Companion AI alongside its new flagships, the U Ultra and U Play, while LG has reportedly either developed its own AI assistant or will leverage Google Assistant for the upcoming LG G6.
It is unclear as to whether Apple might have plans to debut a home center for Siri similar to what Google Home or Amazon’s Echo offers for Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa respectively; while the company has released Siri for the Apple TV, it has voiced little interest in developing a product to rival the popularity of Google’s or Amazon’s efforts.
Read: Nokia‘s Android phones might get their own AI, named Viki
What are your thoughts on the possibility of an ‘enhanced’ Siri? Be sure to let us know your opinion in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
