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The acquisition of undisclosed value is expected to help Apple advance its AI manufacturing efficiency as well as make its AI models smaller and faster.
Apple has acquired Canadian artificial intelligence start-up DarwinAI as the tech giant continues to expand its AI offerings amid a global race to make the most of the emerging technology.
Based in Waterloo, Ontario, DarwinAI is an AI-powered visual quality inspection company developing what it calls an ‘explainable AI’, or XAI, platform that is used by numerous Fortune 500 companies, including Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, BMW, Audi and Intel.
According to Bloomberg, people with knowledge of the matter said the start-up was quietly acquired by Apple earlier this year and “dozens” of its employees began working for the iPhone maker in its AI division.
While the deal value has not been revealed, the acquisition has seen Alexander Wong, a professor at the University of Waterloo and research chair of Canada AI, join Apple as director of its machine learning research in January. He was previously chief scientist at DarwinAI.
The acquisition is expected to help Apple advance its AI manufacturing efficiency as well as make its AI models smaller and faster.
News of the acquisition has surfaced less just two weeks after Apple hit the brakes on its autonomous electric car project Titan after a decade-long effort to break into the space.
The winding down of Project Titan comes at the expense of hundreds of jobs, according to multiple reports, as Apple shifts its focus to artificial intelligence technologies. Bloomberg reported at the time that some of Titan’s employees will move into the company’s AI division.
The move is expected to help Apple allot more time and resources to the development of AI. Microsoft – a first-mover in the AI space that has seen profits soar recently – it recently briefly dethroned Apple to become the world’s most valuable company after hitting the $3trn mark.
Not that Apple’s business has been doing badly. The company beat Wall Street estimates in its first fiscal quarter earnings report last month after raking in $119.6bn and seeing services revenue reach an all-time high.
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