Tech giant Apple Inc. has made a significant move in the artificial intelligence (AI) arena by acquiring Canadian startup DarwinAI, as part of its strategic efforts to bolster its capabilities in generative AI, slated for a major push in 2024.
The acquisition, which took place earlier this year, sees a substantial number of DarwinAI’s employees joining Apple’s AI division, including prominent AI researcher Alexander Wong from the University of Waterloo, who assumes the role of director within Apple’s AI group.
While the exact terms of the deal remain undisclosed, DarwinAI’s expertise spans various industries, with a focus on developing AI technology for visually inspecting manufacturing components. However, one of its core competencies lies in optimizing AI systems to be smaller and faster, a capability that aligns well with Apple’s strategy of deploying AI on-device rather than relying solely on cloud-based solutions.
Although Apple has not officially commented on the acquisition, the company’s stock briefly surged following the news, reflecting investors’ optimism about Apple’s future AI endeavors.
DarwinAI, headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, had garnered significant attention within the startup ecosystem, having raised over $15 million in funding as of 2022. Its notable backers include Honeywell Ventures and Inovia Capital, with collaborations extending to industry giants such as Lockheed Martin Corp. and Intel Corp.
The acquisition of DarwinAI comes at a pivotal moment for Apple’s AI ambitions, with the company gearing up to introduce new features leveraging generative AI technology in its upcoming iOS 18 software update. CEO Tim Cook has underscored Apple’s commitment to innovation in AI, teasing potential groundbreaking developments expected to be unveiled at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
Despite having acquired numerous AI companies in the past decade, Apple has lagged behind in the generative AI market, facing stiff competition from industry peers like Google and Microsoft Corp. However, internal efforts to integrate generative AI into various facets of its operations indicate Apple’s determination to catch up. Plans include leveraging AI for customer service, enhancing software functionalities for tasks like presentation creation and text completion, and even incorporating AI into its Xcode programming software to assist developers in writing code more efficiently.
With the addition of DarwinAI’s technology and talent pool, Apple is poised to accelerate its AI initiatives, potentially reshaping the landscape of AI-powered innovations across its product ecosystem in the near future.