Apple Thins iPhone Cloud Connections

Apple’s introduction of the iPhone in 2007 kicked off[拉开序幕] a revolution[革命; 彻底改变] in personal information sharing[个人信息共享]. With each new iPhone improvement it’s easier to tell the world where we are, what we’re doing and who we’re doing it with.

A bit ironic[有点讽刺的] then that Apple is leading the charge to reclaim[收回; 要求归还、矫正、开垦; 再生，回收; 翻造，修复] privacy[隐私]. Newer versions of iOS emphasize[focus on] encryption[加密], to the point where Apple says it won’t be able to unlock[开锁;解开] its customers’ phones even if law enforcement orders them to do so.

Some of the latest Android devices likewise[同样地;也,而且] offer encryption[加密]. But Apple recently raised the stakes[股份]—the company just bought two start-ups[初创公司] whose artificial intelligence[人工智能] technology should give iPhones greater independence from Apple’s back-end server farms[后端服务器群组], aka[又叫做，亦称(also known as的缩写)] “the cloud.” And like on Battlestar Gallactica, if you avoid the network, it’s a lot harder for you to get hacked.

The first start-up is called Perceptio. Its deep-learning[深度学习] software essentially[本质上，根本上; 本来] models the human brain’s ability to match patterns[模式比对/匹配]. iPhones could then crunch[运行，处理] ever-larger amounts of data themselves without calling the cloud for help.

• Perceptio，一家开发面向智能手机的人工智能系统的初创企业。2015年10月，被苹果公司收购。

• 英国自然语言处理创业公司VocalIQ已经被苹果收购。与Siri相似，VocalIQ的技术专注于理解自然语言，使用户能以休闲、会话的方式而非设备能理解的提示性语言与设备交互。
  

The second start-up, called VocalIQ, makes software that should help Siri better remember its conversations with iPhone users. Instead of having to go back to the Web with every request, the voice-controlled digital assistant[声控数字助手] would sometimes be able to dip into[浏览; 浸入;挖掘] its own memory for answers.

That ability might also help Siri sound more natural and put an end to its awkward[不方便的; 笨拙的], prepackaged[预先包装的;预设的] responses.

—Larry Greenemeier

From 60-Second Science