Microsoft hires Apple's former Siri chief

Microsoft has hired Bill Stasior, the person who until recently was in charge of the Siri virtual assistant at Apple. In 2016 Microsoft established the Artificial Intelligence and Research engineering group in a reorganization. Months later the company added AI to its list of top priorities in its annual report. Last year Microsoft went further in another reorganization that placed some AI teams in the group working on Microsoft's Azure public cloud. Since then Microsoft has made AI acquisitions that have brought in additional talent, including Bonsai, Lobe and Semantic Machines.