It seems like Apple is also expanding from the smartphone industry to include a much broader coverage as it appears that the Cupertino company has just bought another startup company. This time, what's involved is the artificial intelligence startup called Emotient.

Emotient Inc. uses AI technology to read people's emotions by analysing their facial expressions. It isn't clear what the tech company has in store for the AI technology, but it is already confirmed that it has acquired it nonetheless. According to the company's spokeswoman, Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and generally doesn't discuss its plans or purpose with it. The spokeswoman did not elaborate further or even give other details regarding the terms of the deal.

The Emotient technology in the past had been used to help assess viewer reactions to advertisers' ads. Doctors had tested it and found that it interprets signs of pain among patients unable to express themselves, while retailers had tested it to monitor their shoppers' facial expression in their store aisles. Right now, how to improve image recognition is a hot topic in Silicon Valley. Apple's rivals, Facebook and Google, among others, are known to have invested heavily in artificial intelligence techniques.

The AI startup was previously known to have raised $8 million USD from its investors, one of which is Intel Capital. It has been seeking a new way of venture-capital financing for some time now but was unable to secure it on something that would be favourable for it. Emotient Chief Executive Officer Ken Denman has declined to make a statement regarding this issue.

Meanwhile, Apple is said to begin expressing interest in the AI field. In one of its submissions for a 2014 patent application, one software system is described to analyse and identify people's mood based on a variety of clues, including facial expression.

Then last year in October, the Cupertino company has confirmed that it has acquired artificial intelligence startup VocalIQ Ltd. The aim of VocalIQ is to improve a computer's ability to understand natural speech.