Apple is acquiring a new photo-recognition startup

Siri may be about to get smarter in the way it handles photos. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Apple has acquired the machine-learning startup Perceptio, founded by two experienced AI researchers. The company specializes in using deep-learning techniques to analyze and classify images on smartphone-level processors. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

It’s the kind of technology that would be useful in building a counterpart to Google Photos’ recent image-scanning features, although it would be providing the features without leaning on Google’s outside servers or databases. That puts Perceptio right in line with recent upgrades to Siri, which see the personal assistant drawing on more and more of the information stored on users’ phones.