Did Apple Just Overtake Google in Smartphone AI?

For several years, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) has been one of the acknowledged leaders in artificial intelligence (AI). Its Google Brain project was pioneering work in deep learning, a subdiscipline of AI that builds software models inspired by the structure and function of the human brain and how it sorts and processes data. Called neural networks, these models mimic the inner workings of neurons and synapses, and allow these systems to learn in much the same way as humans.

Their ability to excel at pattern recognition has led to such breakthroughs as the voice recognition employed by digital assistants and smart speakers, the image recognition that tags friends in photos, and language translation services found on Google search, and forms the foundations for self-driving cars.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), was hailed for the initial promise of its Siri voice-activated digital assistant, but seemed to languish as the AI that powered Siri's responses was overshadowed by more impressive advances from the Google AI camp. To its credit, Apple said its primary focus was on user privacy, which may have initially hampered its efforts. With the release of Apple's latest flagship iPhone, however, it may finally have overtaken its rival in smartphone AI.

Source: Fool.com