Apple Inc. has purchased Silicon Valley-based machine-learning startup Laserlike for an undisclosed sum, The Information reported.

The acquisition is expected to help boost the iPhone maker's artificial intelligence efforts, including its virtual assistant Siri.

Following the deal, the Laserlike team has reportedly joined Apple's AI team under John Giannandrea, the company's senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy.

Laserlike had built a mobile content search app that used machine-learning techniques, according to The Information.

Apple earlier acquired AI device startup Silk Labs Inc. in 2018.