According to a new report, Apple has purchased one more Artificial Intelligence business. The Information claims that Apple has silently purchased Silk Labs, an AI venture focused on “software lightweight enough to fit onto consumer hardware like cameras.”
Just like many Apple purchases, facts about the purchase are not really known, but it possibly happened at the beginning of this year. Coming to the price, The Information claims the contract was “likely a small one for Apple” because Silk Labs has only hired around half a dozen workers. It has also raised about $4 million capital.
Three previous Mozilla workers discovered Silk Labs in 2015. Chris Jones, Andreas Gal, and Michael Vines worked on Firefox OS at Mozilla, which was the company’s shot at competing with Android and iOS.
Both Silk Labs and Apple are interested in protecting user privacy through the use of artificial intelligence. For example, Silk Labs has mentioned AI devices which locally operate artificial intelligence on a user’s device, rather than on the cloud.
This artificial intelligence purchase is not the first one that Apple has made. In the previous year, the company purchased AI and machine learning company Lattice Data for $200 million. In April this year, Apple also employed Google’s AI and search leader, John Giannandrea, to take part in its own AI works. He was declared as the head of AI and machine learning strategy at Apple.
Apple did not give any response on the reports of its Silk Labs purchase, but that is not something out of the ordinary for the company.
