Samsung announced it has agreed to acquire artificial intelligence platform Viv, a startup from the founders of Siri.
Viv, an AI assistant system that's reportedly more powerful than Siri and capable of more complex human interactions, is Silicon Valley based but has a few Chicago connections. First, its CEO and co-founder Dag Kittlaus lives just outside of Chicago in Barrington, IL. And second, Kittlaus' company is backed by Pritzker Group Venture Capital.
Viv, built by Kittlaus and his fellow Siri founders Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham, will continue to operate independently as part of the acquisition. Its founders will work closely with Samsung’s Mobile Communications business, Samsung said in a news release. Viv has the ability to interact with products across Samsung's portfolio, not just phones, the company said.
“Unlike other existing AI-based services, Viv has a sophisticated natural language understanding, machine learning capabilities and strategic partnerships that will enrich a broader service ecosystem,” Injong Rhee, CTO of the Mobile Communications business at Samsung Electronics, said in the statement. “Viv was built with both consumers and developers in mind. This dual focus is also what attracted us to Viv as an ideal candidate to integrate with Samsung home appliances, wearables and more, as the paradigm of how we interact with technology shifts to intelligent interfaces and voice control.”
It's unclear how much Samsung paid for Viv, but Pritzker Group led a $12.5 million round in the company in 2015.
Where Siri provides answers to basic questions, Viv goes further and better understands human intent. During its first public demonstration earlier this spring, Viv answered complex questions like “Will it be warmer than 70 degrees near the Golden Gate Bridge after 5PM the day after tomorrow?” And it handled voice powered commerce like "Send my mom some flowers.”
Viv's acquisition comes the same week as the launch of Google's Pixel phone, which comes with built-in Google Assistant. Combine that with an improving Siri and Amazon Echo, and the field of big AI players has gotten crowded. But Samsung is clearly bullish on Viv, which has the opportunity to "drive the next generation of AI solutions," Samsung said.
“At Viv, we’re building the simplest way for anyone to talk to devices and services everywhere. We see a future that is decidedly beyond apps—where you can get what you need quickly and easily no matter where you are, or what device you are near,” Kittlaus said in the statement. “Samsung offers us a unique opportunity to deliver a single conversational interface to the world’s apps and services across a diverse range of products, at global scale.”
