Microsoft forays deeper into semantic search
Microsoft has announced that it is acquiring Powerset, a search engine that makes use of natural language technology.
The confirmation on the company’s Live Search blog comes after days of speculation following a VentureBeat report that Microsoft is paying $100 million (£50.2 million) for the San Francisco start-up.
Powerset’s technology is capable of delving into the meaning behind search queries and other forms of web text and was first deployed in a Wikipedia search tool in May this year.
Satya Nadella, senior vice-president of search, portal and advertising at Microsoft, said: "Powerset brings with it natural language technology that nicely complements other natural language processing technologies we have in Microsoft Research."
Powerset will remain in San Francisco while becoming part of Microsoft’s Search Relevance team. According to Mark Johnson of Powerset, the deal means that the company will be able to bring its work to a significantly larger market.
