INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Microsoft announced today that it has acquired Semantic Machines, a Berkeley-based startup that wants to solve one of the biggest
challenges in conversational AI: making chatbots sound more human and less like, well, bots.
In a blog post, Microsoft AI Research chief
technology officer David Ku wrote that &with the acquisition of Semantic Machines, we will establish a conversational AI center of
excellence in Berkeley to push forward the boundaries of what is possible in language interfaces.&
According to Crunchbase, Semantic
Machines was founded in 2014 and raised about $20.9 million in funding from investors including General Catalyst and Bain Capital
Ventures.
In a 2016 profile, co-founder and chief scientist Dan Klein told TechCrunch that &today dialog technology is mostly orthogonal
Youwant a conversational system to be contextual so when you interpret a sentence things don&t stand in isolation.& By focusing on memory,
Semantic Machines& AI can produce conversations that not only answer or predict questions more accurately, but also flow naturally.
Instead
of building its own consumer products, Semantic Machines focused on enterprise customers
This means it will fit in well with Microsoft conversational AI-based products, including Microsoft Cognitive Services and Azure Bot
Service, which are used by one million and 300,000 developers, respectively, and virtual assistants Cortana and Xiaolce.
