Apple just bought another Seattle-based AI startup, Xnor.ai

guest · Jan 15, 2020

Apple just bought a low-power AI startup
January 15, 2020
https://www.engadget.com/2020/01/15/apple-acquires-ai-startup-xnorai/

Apple has acquired another Seattle-based AI startup, Xnor.ai. The startup specializes in low-power edge-based tools that allow AI to operate on devices, rather than in the cloud. The tech could allow Apple to bring edge-based AI software to future iPhone models.

Apple is giving its standard response: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans." But one Xnor.ai illustration, shared by GeekWire, shows a computer vision tool identifying objects in a photo using software on an iPhone. That might be the kind of capability we can look forward to.

According to GeekWire, Apple spent in the range of $200 million on Xnor.ai [...] That's about how much Apple spent on Turi, another AI startup the company acquired in 2016. In the past couple years, Apple has also purchased the self-driving startup Drive.ai, the privacy-focussed AI company Silk Labs and the voice-tech startup PullString.
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guest · Jan 16, 2020

Apple’s latest AI acquisition leaves some Wyze cameras without people detection
This was a major selling point of Wyze’s affordable cameras
January 15, 2020
https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/15/...-xnor-ai-wyze-camera-people-detection-feature

Earlier today, Apple confirmed it purchased Seattle-based AI company Xnor.ai (via MacRumors). Acquisitions at Apple’s scale happen frequently, though rarely do they impact everyday people on the day of their announcement. This one is different.

Cameras from fellow Seattle-based company Wyze, including the Wyze Cam V2 and Wyze Cam Pan, have utilized Xnor.ai’s on-device people detection since last summer. But now that Apple owns the company, it’s no longer available. Some people on Wyze’s forum are noting that the beta firmware removing the people detection has already started to roll out.
Oddly enough, word of this lapse in service isn’t anything new. Wyze issued a statement in November 2019 saying that Xnor.ai had terminated their contract [...]

There’s a bright side to this loss, though, even if Apple snapping up Xnor.ai makes Wyze’s affordable cameras less appealing in the interim.
And whether it operates on-device via “edge AI” computing like Xnor.ai’s does, or by authenticating through the cloud, it will be free for users when it launches.
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guest · Jan 21, 2020

How Apple’s Xnor.ai acquisition could bring the Siri boost we’ve been waiting for
January 21, 2020
https://www.macworld.com/article/35...boost-we-ve-been-waiting-for.html#tk.rss_news

Apple buys a lot of companies throughout the course of a year, with only a couple of them rising to the level of intriguing news.

Its most recent acquisition might be different. The company, Xnor.ai, might not be one you’ve ever heard of, but they’re hardly unknown. Since last summer, the Seattle-based startup’s tech has been the brains behind the popular Wyze cam’s marquee feature: people detection. Simply put, it allowed the $20 camera to distinguish between faces, pets, and dust, and vastly improved its abilities, putting it a somewhat level playing field with the far-more-expensive Ring and Nest cams of the world.

Xnor.ai estimates that Edge AI runs 10 times as fast with 15X memory than cloud-based systems, and a responsive assistant dedicated to each specific phone could finally let Apple build a voice recognition system with near-perfect accuracy.
That same engine could be applied to speech patterns. Siri dictation isn’t bad at all, but saying “period” and “comma” gets tedious. Edge AI could recognize our vocal patterns, so when we pause a certain way it adds a period, or if we change out inflection it adds a question mark.
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Bottom line: there’s a lot the Siri doesn’t quite know how to do, and Xnor.ai’s Edge AI engine could help teach it.
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guest · May 30, 2020

Some more AI/ML acquisitions:

Apple Acquires Machine Learning Startup Inductiv
The iPhone maker continues its ongoing work to improve the functionality of Siri
May 28, 2020
https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/05/28/apple-acquires-machine-learning-startup-inductiv.aspx

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has acquired Inductiv, a machine-learning (ML) start-up that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically identify and correct errors that may be lurking in data, according to a Bloomberg report. This marks the second such acquisition in as many months aimed at improving the functionality of Siri, the iPhone's voice-activated digital assistant.

The company confirmed the deal using its typical boilerplate language, saying that Apple "buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."
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ML is a branch of AI that helps computers learn tasks without being specifically programmed for them. The systems use sophisticated algorithms to sift through reams of data, finding patterns that might otherwise be missed, and drawing conclusions based on what it finds.
Inductiv recently joined forces with Apple and is working under John Giannandrea, the company exec in charge of Apple's machine learning and AI strategy.

Apple previously acquired another of Re's companies, Lattice Data, in 2017 for an estimated $200 million. The company's technology focused on turning "dark" unstructured data into usable information.
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guest · May 30, 2020

Apple Acquires AI Start-Up Voysis
The iPhone maker is apparently taking another crack at improving Siri's language skills
April 7, 2020
https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/04/07/apple-acquires-ai-start-up-voysis.aspx

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has acquired Voysis, an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up focused on helping systems provide better responses to voice commands. Bloomberg reported the acquisition on Friday. The most obvious application would be to continue the incremental improvements Apple has been making on Siri, the iPhone's voice-activated digital assistant.

Voysis's website, which has since been shuttered, reportedly said the company used AI tools that focused on customer databases to develop a deep understanding of the company's products and services, as well as industry-specific vocabulary.
The Dublin-based company, which also has offices in Boston and Edinburgh, uses its AI acumen to help digital assistants better understand everyday language.
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One of the more appealing features of Voysis technology is its size. Bloomberg reported that a Voysis co-founder had said that once the AI system was trained, the company was able to reduce the scope of its solution to take up just 25 megabytes of memory, small enough to be run on the edge, or locally on smartphones without requiring an internet connection.
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guest · Oct 27, 2020

mood said: ↑

Some more AI/ML acquisitions:
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Apple Buys Self-Learning AI Video Company to Improve Apps
October 27, 2020
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...elf-learning-ai-video-startup-to-improve-apps

Apple Inc. acquired a startup specializing in advanced artificial intelligence and computer vision technology that may help the iPhone maker improve its own AI across a number of apps and services.

The Cupertino, California-based technology giant acquired Barcelona-based Vilynx Inc. earlier this year, according to people familiar with the deal. Vilynx developed technology that uses AI to analyze a video’s visual, audio and text content to understand what the video shows. It used that technology to create tags for the video, making it searchable.
The deal was completed for about $50 million, said the people who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak about the transaction.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” the company said in a statement.
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Vilynx applied its technology to software that companies used for search and recommendation engines for video and other media. On its now defunct website, the startup touted the ability of its system to not only recognize items, but understand them.
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