Facebook Inc acquired wit.ai, a
company that makes voice recognition technology for wearable devices and
Internet connected appliances, the latest sign of its ambition to extend its
reach beyond computers and smartphones. The price for the deal is not disclosed
yet. Wit.ai is a company based in Palo Alto, California, which makes software
that can understand spoken words as well as written text phrased in “natural language.”
The deal comes as technology
companies are racing to bring Internet connectivity to a new crop of devices,
from watches to washing machines. Voice recognition, the technology that helps
power services such as Apple Inc Siri, is considered a key building block for
the new devices to earn mainstream consumer appeal.
Alex Lebrun, Willy Blandin, and
Laurent Landowski founded wit.ai. The company announced in October that it had
raised $3 Million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen
Horowitz. This deal for wit.ai is likely to have been significantly smaller. Facebook
rivals Apple Inc, Google Inc, and Microsoft Corp. all have integrated voice
recognition technology into their mobile operating systems for smartphones.
Wit.ai technology could allow
Facebook users to speak commands that could be converted to text as posts or
messages. The technology could have other uses. Facebook already has an
optional feature that can recognize music and television shows and encourage
users to post about what they are listening to or watching. Facebook mission is
to connect everyone and build amazing experiences for the over 1.3 Billion
people on the platform technology that understands natural language is a big
part of that.
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