Apple has reportedly acquired Israeli AI startup Q.ai in a deal worth $1.6 billion, making it the largest acquisition in Apple’s history. financial times newspaper and Reuters on Thursday.
Q.ai was explained as follows. F.T. As a “secret Israeli startup” that has developed technology that can analyze the “silent speech” made by facial expressions.
According to reports, people familiar with the matter said the deal would value the Israeli startup at nearly $2 billion.
With this move, Apple aims to improve access to its AI technology, which has stumbled recently, especially after several delays in introducing the full capabilities of the announced Apple Intelligence.
“Q.ai is a remarkable company that is pioneering new and creative ways to use imaging and machine learning,” said Johnny Srouge, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technology. financial times newspaper.
“Q.ai has operated in stealth since its founding, and we are passionate about bridging the gap between human intent and digital execution,” Tom Hulme, one of the principals at GV (formerly Google Ventures and one of Q.ai’s seed investors), said in a blog post.
Q.ai CEO Aviad Maizels is unique in that he sold two of his companies to Apple, according to Hulme. PrimeSense is the technology behind Kinect, which Apple acquired in November 2013.
Current technology developed by Q.ai is used in intelligent headphones and glasses to detect “micro facial movements” and allow users to control their devices without making excessive movements.
“Joining Apple opens up extraordinary possibilities to push boundaries and realize the full potential of what we create,” Maisels said in a statement to Reuters. “We’re excited to bring these experiences to people around the world.”
Apple falls behind in the AI race
On January 13, Apple announced a deal with Alphabet (Google’s parent company) to integrate its Gemini AI system into Apple Intelligence software.
Reuters reports that Apple aims to improve AI systems across its devices with the deal, while Google continues to expand the scope of its AI motor, which is already used to power much of Samsung’s Galaxy AI.
“After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google’s AI technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models,” Google said in the report, adding that the company’s models will also power other Apple Intelligence features in the future.
Apple already had a similar agreement with OpenAI’s ChatGPT system, but said the deal does not override previous AI implementations added to the software.
