Apple Quietly Buys DarwinAI to Supercharge Its AI Engine

Apple has quietly acquired DarwinAI, a Canadian AI startup, indicating yet another move toward the company’s AI ambitions. Reportedly, the acquisition, completed earlier this year, involves several DarwinAI employees joining Apple's AI team. This strategic move precedes Apple's anticipated announcement of generative AI features in iOS 18 at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

What does DarwinAI do?

DarwinAI specializes in using AI for visual inspection in manufacturing, serving clients across diverse sectors. Its focus on streamlining AI systems aligns well with Apple's device-centric AI strategy. 

With its headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, DarwinAI had secured over US$ 15 million in funding by 2022, backed by investors like Honeywell Ventures and Inovia Capital. Notably, the startup has collaborated with industry giants such as Lockheed Martin and Intel.

Coming up

Based on CEO Tim Cook’s vision that Apple is going to “break new ground” with generative AI this year, speculation suggests potential enhancements to Siri, Apple's voice assistant, with rumors suggesting a transition to “AppleGPT,” an LLM chatbot like ChatGPT. 

Users are also hoping for visual generative AI features within Apple's Photos and iMovie apps, promising intuitive editing capabilities and enhanced user interactions like Google’s features for the Pixel phone series.

Earlier this week, reports suggested that the big tech is experimenting with a new AI-driven strategy to procure ads within its App Store. It is currently piloting a tool with select advertisers that automatically determines the optimal placement for ads within the App Store, similar to Google's Performance Max and Meta's Advantage+. 

Furthermore, Apple plans to enhance its software capabilities by introducing features for automatic presentation generation and text completion. Additionally, a new iteration of Xcode programming software, leveraging AI to aid developers in code writing, is in development.