Samsung buys AI startup created by Siri co-cofounders
Samsung on Wednesday announced the acquisition of Viv, a next-generation artificial intelligence firm created by Siri co-founders and former Apple employees Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham.
Under the terms of today's agreement, Viv will function as a separate entity from Samsung, but is contractually obliged to provide services to the Korean tech giant, according TechCrunch. Recode contradicts the report, saying all Viv employees, around 30 in total, will be assimilated into Samsung's apparatus.
In any case, Samsung has purchased Viv, and is therefore de facto owner of any technological breakthroughs the team might produce. Financial details of the acquisition remain unknown. This will be the second big acquisition for co-creators Kittlaus, Cheyer and Brigham, who previously sold their Siri virtual assistant technology to Apple in 2010. Viv was unveiled in 2014 as a next step solution to closed automated assistants popularized by Apple and Google. Kittlaus demonstrated Viv's potential during the product's first public presentation in May, and the firm has been awaiting a suitor ever since.
