Apple has added another AI startup to its list of acquisitions, along with Canada-based DarwinAI, which specializes in vision-based technology that improves efficiency by observing components during manufacturing, Bloomberg reports.
Apple and DarwinAI did not announce the deal, but several members of the startup's team joined Apple's machine learning team in January, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
DarwinAI has raised over $15 million in various rounds from investors including BDC Capital's Deep Tech Venture Fund, Honeywell Ventures, Obvious Ventures, and Inovia Capital. BDC Capital confirms on its website that it has received an exit from DarwinAI, while Obvious Venture has updated its portfolio to reflect the startup's acquisition.
BDC Capital and Obvious Venture had not commented on this story at the time of writing. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
As Bloomberg pointed out in a report, DarwinAI uses technology that not only helps make manufacturing more efficient, but also makes AI models smaller and faster. This could help with on-device generative AI features that Apple wants to introduce in iOS 18 this year.
Apple has been slow to release features powered by Gen-AI compared to competitors such as OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Microsoft. Tim Cook said in February that the company plans to introduce these features “later this year.”
“We continue to invest a significant amount of time and effort, and we look forward to sharing details of our ongoing efforts in this area later this year,” Cook said on a quarterly earnings call with analysts.
Last year, top Apple executives acknowledged investing in artificial intelligence efforts. According to Apple's job listings, the company is considering using his AI in various areas both internally and externally, including Siri, developer tools, and customer support.