About a year ago, a certain California firm quietly snapped up VocalIQ, a UK-based startup that used machine learning to build conversational virtual assistants. Subsequent reports noted that Apple kept most of the startup's employees to work out of their unmarked Cambridge, UK office on integrating VocalIQ technology into Siri. Citing sources with knowledge of the matter, Business Insider reports that Apple is now looking to increase the size of the Siri team in Cambridge. "In a bid to make Siri that bit more useful to iPhone, iPad and Mac owners, Apple intends to hire at least half a dozen software engineers in Cambridge in the coming months," reads the post. Apple's Cambridge office is currently home to a team of roughly 30 people working on voice recognition technology that would let Siri and users speak to each other in a more natural dialogue.

Google's major push into home automation and artificial intelligence has been sort-of realized with the Google Assistant. It lives inside of the Pixel and Google Home, but that's just the start. The company wants to enable your favorite apps and services to connect with it so you can issue voice commands that simplify numerous day-to-day tasks. The destination at the end of this journey is a little clearer with Google recently announcing that Actions on Google will be available for developers next month. This will enable them to create voice commands from the Google Assistant for their apps and services.

Microsoft is betting on artificial intelligence (AI) with the creation at the end of September of a new AI and Research Group. This newly formed group brings together Microsoft's research organization and more than 5,000 computer scientists and engineers focused on AI and is now the fourth major division in the company, on par with the Windows, Office and Cloud divisions. When Microsoft talks of "infusing" every application with AI, it's reminiscent of the famous "Internet Tidal Wave" email Bill Gates sent to all staff in 1995. In it, Gates outlined his desire to focus the company's efforts on the internet with immediate effect and told them to "assign the internet the highest level of importance" in everything that they did henceforth. Is the creation of the AI and research group effectively a "tidal wave" message?

PayPal users who rely on the money transfer service's iOS app for all their electronic transactions can now use their voice to command the app on what to do. This is thanks to a new update that brings Siri integration to the mobile payments application for iPhones and iPads. In an online blog post for its users, PayPal Senior Director for Core Consumer Products Meron Colbeci stated that the company has found that around $41 billion was processed for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions in 2015. Colbeci then added that the company is expecting over 17 million transactions in time for the holidays this month of December. Because of this projected number of transactions, PayPal is proud to present that its iOS 10 app will be accepting transactions this holiday season with the help of Siri.

PayPal users can now send money to friends and family using just their voice, after the payment service announced it was to integrate into Apple's Siri. Siri is the voice-based virtual assistant embedded into the iPhone, and can be used to set reminders, answer questions and help with tasks. From today, PayPal said users running iOS 10 on their iPhone will be able to use commands such as'Hey Siri, send John £25 using PayPal' to transfer money as an alternative to using the official app. From today, PayPal said users running iOS 10 on their iPhone will be able to use commands such as'Hey Siri, send John £25 using PayPal' to transfer money as an alternative to using the official app Apple's software uses voice recognition so only the known owner of the device can use the voice commands. PayPal's Meron Colbeci said consumers in 30 countries would be able to use the new service.

It has been said that to give a man a fish is to feed him for a day, whereas to teach a man to fish is to feed him for life. Forward-looking financial service companies are similarly finding that giving computers instructions is not nearly as fruitful as teaching them to write their own. From assessing credit risks to beefing-up the security of their own networks, fintech startups, in particular, are turning to machine learning finance-based solutions in order to work smarter rather than harder. Considering that over 200 leading financial institutions will attend the upcoming October 2016 Machine Learning Fintech Conference, investment in this subset of artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be a wise move, indeed, for companies that don't want to be left behind. With leading banks starting to invest in AI, and machine learning in particular, fintech companies will be significantly disadvantaged if they fail to do likewise.

Recently, I needed to book a lunch meeting. To help coordinate, I asked Amy to assist and cc'd her on the email. "Amy," I wrote, "please help us find a time to meet. Let's plan for sushi at Tokyo Express on Spear Street." Amy looked at my calendar, found an open time suitable for everyone invited, and booked the meeting.

Siri is still very much a walled garden, but Apple has slowly begun opening its voice assistant to third parties. At its WWDC keynote back in June, the company confirmed app makers could let iPhone and iPad users send and receive money via Siri, with Square Cash and Monzo becoming the first to tap into that functionality. Now, bigger players are tapping into hands-free money transfers, after PayPal announced it too now lets users in over 30 countries send and request money via using only their voice. Sending and receiving is very easy, but you'll first need to link Siri with your PayPal account. This involves granting PayPal access to your Contacts and confirming via two-factor authentication (a code sent via text message) that you are who you say you are.

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