Apple acqui-hires a small startup Init.ai to work on Siri

Apple has "acqui-hired" the team from Init.ai, a startup known for its customer service automation, reports TechCrunch.

A few days back, the startup notified on its website that it is "joining a project that touches the lives of countless people across the world. We are thrilled and excited at the new opportunities this brings us." The report notes that there was no intellectual property included in the deal, but was instead about bringing the Init.ai team to Apple to work on Siri.

Init.ai is focused on creating an AI with natural language processing and machine learning to analyze chat-based conversations between humans. Apple's acquisition of the startup's team may hint at it's future Siri plans, with the company perhaps planning to build out more business integrations to supplement Business Chat, the iOS 11 iMessage feature that allows businesses to communicate with customers.

At present, there's no confirmation on how many people from Init.ai will be transitioning to Apple, but the startup only employed six people as per LinkedIn. There's no official word from Apple as yet.