Joshua Fruhlinger, Thinknum:
Apple hiring trend data suggests that the company is finally taking its Siri intelligent assistant seriously. According to hiring data that we track at Thinknum, the number of open positions that contain the term “Siri” has accelerated in recent weeks, with a current all-time high of 161 job listings posted today alone. This marks a jump in hiring for the keyword of 24% in just over a month.
Check out the chart embedded in the article. Job openings moved from a low of 46 back in 2016, in a relatively steady climb up to 160 today. That’s a big swing, slow and steady.
An absolute must for Apple. I don’t know exactly how important smart voice assistants are in terms of financial gains but Apple needs to try to keep up with rival companies even if it’s just for mind share. Investors seem to think that voice assistant tech is very important. It’s as though they think Apple is greatly falling behind other tech companies who have voice assistant technology. I don’t personally want listening devices all over my house and am happy to do things the old fashioned way by typing in questions or commands.
The only thing that excites me about voice assistants is if they could actually learn to translate languages on the fly and that’s something Amazon is aiming for. As for Apple improving Siri, I think it’s a good idea considering the amount of money Apple can afford to spend and how long Siri has been in existence. Making Siri become more intelligent certainly can’t hurt Apple. I do think AI is very important and Apple should do more to keep up with other tech companies on that front.