Apple Buys Canadian Start-up DarwinAI, Attempts to Bring Killer Feature to Catch up With Microsoft, Google | HNGN [Video]

Apple has reportedly acquired Canadian artificial intelligence (AI) startup DarwinAI, specializing in vision-based technology for improving manufacturing efficiency.

According to the company’s LinkedIn accounts, although Apple and DarwinAI still have not disclosed their partnership, several startup team members joined Apple’s machine learning teams in January.

Apple Buys DarwinAI

DarwinAI has secured over $15 million in funding from investors in multiple rounds, including Inovia Capital, Honeywell Ventures, Obvious Ventures, and BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund. On its website, BDC Capital affirms that it has received an exit from DarwinAI, while Obvious Venture has updated its portfolio to reflect the startup’s acquisition.

At the time of writing, BDC Capital and Obvious Ventures had not responded to inquiries about the report, and Apple did not immediately respond to queries for comment.

Bloomberg mentioned in its report that apart from improving manufacturing efficiency, DarwinAI employs methodsto create smaller and quicker AI models. This may be helpful for the generative AI features that Apple plans to …