It looks like Apple hasn't integrated a Cambridge startup's voice recognition tech into Siri, despite acquiring it a year ago

This time last year, Apple reportedly paid up to $100 million (£82 million) for a Cambridge voice recognition startup called VocalIQ as it looked to make Siri that bit little smarter.

But VocalIQ's software - designed to help computers and people speak to each other in a more natural dialogue - hasn't found its way into Siri, according to an artificial intelligence (AI) expert with knowledge of voice recognition platforms.

"I think it's extremely unlikely that [VocalIQ] is in Siri now," the source said. "In fact, I'm pretty sure it isn't. But obviously Apple have got it for a reason."

The source said they could tell that VocalIQ's technology hadn't been integrated into Siri just by talking to the personal assistant. VocalIQ has a "a very particular style of dialogue ... and I haven't seen that in Siri," they said.

VocalIQ's technology was spun out of the University of Cambridge so it's "very technical, mathematical stuff," the source added. "It also takes a long time to get technology from a startup into a production product," they said.

But one of VocalIQ's early investors told Business Insider that it was "hard to tell" whether VocalIQ was in Siri or not.

Earlier this year Steve Kovach reported:

He went on to write:

Apple did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

NOW WATCH: There's a hidden map in your iPhone of everywhere you've been

Please enable Javascript to watch this video