Tech giant Apple has quietly acquired Canadian artificial intelligence (AI) start-up ‘DarwinAI’, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter who preferred to remain anonymous.
According to the report, the deal was struck earlier this year and the acquisition occurred recently.
Following the acquisition, the iPhone maker has added dozens of DarwinAI employees to its own AI division.
Also, DarwinAI’s website and social media accounts have been taken offline.
Further, Alexander Wong, an AI researcher from the University of Waterloo who played a crucial role in developing DarwinAI’s business, has also reportedly joined as a Director of Machine Learning Research within Apple’s AI group.
When Apple was questioned about the acquisition by Bloomberg, the iPhone maker said, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time.” However, it did not reveal the purpose of the acquisition and future plans. While the deal value remains unknown, the report suggests that the deal could be announced officially later.
For those unaware, DarwinAI is best known for making neural network models smaller and faster.
It has also created AI technology for visually inspecting components during the manufacturing process to improve product quality and increase production efficiency.
With the acquisition, Apple is looking to utilise DarwinAI’s systems to improve its AI capabilities to compete with the likes of OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Microsoft.
It is looking to run AI on devices instead of in the cloud, similar to Google and Microsoft, which offer AI models that run on cloud and devices, such as smartphones and laptops.
At the WWDC in June, Apple is expected to announce a host of features to its iOS 18 operating system that depend on generative AI.
This includes new AI features in Messages, an upgraded version of Siri, iWork, Apple Music, and some features on iPhones.
