Apple has announced the purchase of AI start-up Perceptio, a company that specialises in deep learning, as its push towards internet of things (IoT) technologies continues.
Details of the deal have not been disclosed, but Perceptio’s expertise will allow Apple to increase its machine learning capabilities, with co-founders Nicolas Pinto and Zak Stone making the jump to Apple, too.
As Bloomberg notes, Perceptio was set up to develop techniques to run AI image-classification systems on smartphones, “without having to draw from large external repositories of data”.
“That fits Apple’s strategy of trying to minimize its usage of customer data and do as much processing as possible on the device,” reads the report.
Apple’s acquisitions in recent months have been spread right across the IoT sphere, with mapping, analytics and even voice control taken into consideration.
Just four months after its creation, mapping data analytics start-up Mapsense was bought by Apple in September.
Mapsense’s software was built using maps obtained through the OpenStreetMap project and, using this information, it creates datavis maps that turn raw data into trends and locations, and presents them in a visible and digestible form.
Last week, Apple bought VocalIQ, a natural language processing company that looks at voice control within automobiles.
Both of these feed clearly into plans to release the Apple car in 2019, but the company’s many arms means it is constantly pursuing innovations in every direction.
It purchased music analytics start-up Semetric in January, mere months before the launch of Apple Music.
IoT Makers Week explores the internet of things revolution and the makers driving it with reports on Siliconrepublic.com from 5 to 9 October 2015. Get updates by subscribing to our news alerts or following @siliconrepublic and the hashtag #IoTMakersWeek on Twitter.
