Secretive Apple Tries to Open Up on Artificial Intelligence

The battle for artificial-intelligence expertise is forcing Apple Inc. AAPL -0.49% to grapple with its famous penchant for secrecy, as tech companies seek to woo talent in a discipline known for its openness. The technology giant this year has been trying to draw attention--but only so much--to its efforts to develop artificial intelligence, or AI, a term that generally describes software that enables computers to learn and improve functions on their own. Apple launched a public blog in July to talk about its work, for example, and has allowed its researchers to speak at several conferences on artificial intelligence, including a TED Talk in April by Tom Gruber, co-creator of Apple's Siri voice assistant, that was posted on YouTube last month. Talking up transparency is unusual for a company whose chief executive, Tim Cook, once joked that it is more secretive than the Central Intelligence Agency. The shift is driven by AI's growing importance in areas like self-driving cars and voice assistants such as Siri.