Microsoft acquires conversational AI startup Semantic Machines

Microsoft today announced that it has acquired Semantic Machines to bolster its conversational AI offerings -- like Cortana, the Azure Bot Service, and Microsoft Cognitive Services. Semantic Machines works in areas like speech synthesis, deep learning, and natural language processing. Semantic Machines describes itself as a company bent on creating conversational AI that enables machines "to communicate, collaborate, understand our goals, and accomplish tasks." It could help Microsoft compete with conversational computing initiatives from Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, Google's Assistant, and Samsung's Bixby. In addition, Semantic Machines has assembled a cadre of experts in the conversational AI arena, like Larry Gillick, former chief scientist for Siri at Apple, and well-known researchers like UC Berkeley professor Dan Klein and Stanford University professor Percy Liang.