Fast Facts
- Apple’s quiet acquisition of a tech startup with an AI focus shows it’s ramping up efforts in this tech sector.
- Tim Cook previously noted the “incredible breakthrough potential for generative AI,” and confirmed the company was working on the tech.
- The acquisition is the latest sign that Apple’s readying AI and generative AI features for an announcement.
While Apple (AAPL) and CEO Tim Cook have been teasing AI-related announcements for many months, the company isn’t expected to reveal them fully until its annual World Wide Developers Conference, which typically occurs in June. We now have even more evidence that its working on the tech.
Apple’s acquired DarwinAI, a Canadian-based startup focusing on making AI systems and processes faster and smaller in size, according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. With the acquisition, Apple likely acquired IP and technologies, as well as dozens of employees.
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Considering DarwinAI’s focus on the processes and the development of or processing of AI tasks, it’s likely that Apple’s acquisition will help to speed up or further improve device processing.
With iOS 18 and future versions of watchOS, macOS, and iPadOS, Apple will likely look to run most of these tasks and power new AI features all on-device. Rather than sending them off to the cloud, the ability to make the necessary components smaller and pack more power into these would seemingly fit the bill.
Jacob Krol/TheStreet
The report also detailed DarwinAI’s work with “visually inspecting components during the manufacturing process.” Apple could also harness this from a manufacturing state. But more tangibly, and in line with future software functionality, would be the ability to help these AI tasks and processes run swimmingly on devices without sending them off to the cloud.
It’s also worth noting that Apple-made chips for the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and the Mac all already have some cores—generally Neural Processing Units—for handling and running AI or ML tasks on devices.
The timing of this acquisition comes just a few months before Apple is likely to unveil its ambitions around AI and its first software or true products using the technology. TheStreet has reached out to Apple for comment, but in response to Bloomberg’s report, Apple wouldn’t confirm the acquisition. However, it did note that it sometimes buys smaller companies but doesn’t specifically disclose them.
It also comes just a few weeks after Apple released the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air with M3, which the company dubbed the world’s best consumer laptop for AI. You can read our full review on the latest Macs, in which we detail how they handled generative AI and ML tasks, here.
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