Apple has acquired Canadian artificial intelligence startup DarwinAI, enhancing its AI capabilities ahead of a major push into generative AI in 2024. The acquisition, completed earlier this year, saw several DarwinAI employees join Apple’s AI division.
DarwinAI is known for its AI technology used in visually inspecting manufacturing components and serves various industries. A key aspect of DarwinAI’s technology is its ability to make AI systems smaller and faster, which aligns with Apple’s focus on running AI on devices rather than solely in the cloud.
Alexander Wong, an AI researcher at the University of Waterloo and a key figure in DarwinAI, has joined Apple as a director in its AI group as part of the acquisition.
Apple’s acquisition of DarwinAI comes as part of a broader AI strategy for the company, with plans to introduce new features in its iOS 18 software that leverage generative AI technology. CEO Tim Cook has promised groundbreaking AI developments from Apple this year, with announcements expected at the company’s worldwide developers conference in June.
Despite acquiring several AI companies over the past decade, Apple has lagged behind in the generative AI market. The company aims to catch up by integrating generative AI into various operations, including customer service, presentation creation, text completion, and even assisting developers with writing code in a new version of its Xcode programming software.
