Apple Buys DarwinAI Ahead of Major Generative AI Updates Coming in iOS 18

[seek3r]

The Beats acquisition became the foundation of Apple Music. I’m not sure how that was a mistake.

Oh, and there were a LOT more moving parts involved in the NeXT acquisition than “Gil thinks it’s a good idea.” The biggest one of those moving parts was a guy called Steve Jobs.

Also NeXT took over Apple, its core leadership took over every dept where there was an analogue. NeXT bought Apple for $-429M basically

 

[Beautyspin]

i think this remark shows a lack of understanding about IP and resourcing. look back at how Apple built up their chip design team. it started with a lot of small companies.

Maybe, but if they're still buying up, it means they lack something and we do not know how much. Maybe they need 50 companies, or 100. What is so special about the number 30, because you would have felt the same when they had acquired their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, .... and 29th company too. If they could reach their target, whatever that was, with 29 companies, why are so sure that 30th will enable them to reach it? Is it because they are changing their targets, don't understand what their target is, or learning as they are going along? If any of the reasons is true, then they are definitely clueless.

 

[DanVM]

I still find it amazing that Apple, the world's most valuable company which hires the most brilliant engineers and strategists, missed the AI vector when it launched several years ago.

They need to catch up, which is already extremely hard considering their current position, and break new ground fast. Good luck!

Microsoft is the most valuable company right now, not Apple. And looks like AI is the reason for that.

 

[xSushi]

After the update to the predictive text keyboard in iOS17 the bar is really low for Apple with AI.

 

[sahajesh]

I forgot, Apple uses AI to categorise photos in your library, way to go, great use of your resources.

In the meantime, Siri is crap and HomePods are excellent good dumb speakers.

 

[thewill586]

Maybe, but if they're still buying up, it means they lack something and we do not know how much. Maybe they need 50 companies, or 100. What is so special about the number 30, because you would have felt the same when they had acquired their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, .... and 29th company too. If they could reach their target, whatever that was, with 29 companies, why are so sure that 30th will enable them to reach it? Is it because they are changing their targets, don't understand what their target is, or learning as they are going along? If any of the reasons is true, then they are definitely clueless.

ya seem fixated on 30 for some reason. it is likely that Apple will continue to buy more small companies in areas where they have a need or want to grow in strength. that includes wireless, cameras, displays, cpu, gpu, and not just AI.

 

[Return Zero]

To be fair though, on-device generative AI would be groundbreaking. Especially for privacy, but also the technology that’s needed to pull that feat off. The power to run it contained in tiny little phones and devices instead of relying on an internet connection to a huge data center.

If that's what they release right out of the gate, I'll be impressed for sure. If so I think it would require M3/A18 and up though... maybe that's why they marketed the new MBA for its AI capabilities? I bet at first it will just be cloud-based with PQ3 like iMessage, and some server-side privacy features as well.

 

[Beautyspin]

ya seem fixated on 30 for some reason. it is likely that Apple will continue to buy more small companies in areas where they have a need or want to grow in strength. that includes wireless, cameras, displays, cpu, gpu, and not just AI.

Well, I do not know how you got pulled into this, but I was originally responding to a poster who said Apple is a dark horse that is going to win the AI race because it bought 30 companies. I was stating that buying 30 companies (or whatever) does not make a company the best.

 

[Curry119]

Apple acquired Canada-based company DarwinAI earlier this year to build out its AI team, reports Bloomberg. DarwinAI created AI technology for inspecting components during the manufacturing process, and it also had a focus on making smaller and more efficient AI systems.

DarwinAI's website and social media accounts have been taken offline following Apple's purchase. Dozens of former DarwinAI companies have now joined Apple's artificial intelligence division. AI researcher Alexander Wong, who helped build DarwinAI, is now a director in Apple's AI group.

Apple confirmed the acquisition with the statement that it typically gives when questioned about purchases. "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time" but does not discuss its purpose or plans.

In an effort to catch up with Microsoft, Google, and others in the AI market, Apple is working hard to build artificial intelligence features for its next-generation iOS 18 and macOS 15 operating systems.

If Apple wants to be able to rival Microsoft's Bing, OpenAI's ChatGPT, and other generative AI offerings, it will need to integrate generative AI into a range of products. Apple is testing large language models, and AI features are said to be coming to Siri, Shortcuts, Messages, Apple Music, and more.

Apple is aiming to have AI features run on-device for privacy reasons, and DarwinAI's efforts to make smaller AI systems could be of use to further that endeavor.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised that Apple will "break new ground" in generative AI in 2024. "We believe it will unlock transformative opportunities for our users," said Cook.

Article Link: Apple Buys DarwinAI Ahead of Major Generative AI Updates Coming in iOS 18

I predict that Apple will surprise at WWDC with some major leaps forward on AI/Siri. They will likely also build it into their productivity apps like copilot pro’s offering. I see many here in the comments saying Apple is too far behind, etc, but I think Google is the company that will be most harmed by AI long term. I’m already using the copilot for my typical searches and skipping Google completely. This is going to absolutely kill their ad revenue once all the iPhones are searching with Siri/AppleGPT.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I predict that Apple will surprise at WWDC with some major leaps forward on AI/Siri.

Whatever line we want to draw here, I'll take the "under" on this bet

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Is this a response from Siri?

That's gold!

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Apple got caught off guard.
The executives were busy hanging out mingling with Hollywood stars and Fashion Celebrities. The geeks at Microsoft and Google are years ahead of Apple now when it comes to AI. Apple software looks primitive compared to them.
Also, Apple's software development pace is glacial.
Look at their software. Final Cut and iWork. When was the last time they added any meaningful features!

Yep. Which is why I switched to Android last year. iOS is so far behind it's a sad joke.

I am mildly concerned with Apple's direction with macOS. It's a very mature platform, but they seem hell bent on removing functionality with every new macOS release, and every new release of hardware is tied to the newest macOS or later.

I love my MBP, and I sure hope Apple changes direction on software sooner rather than later, before they cripple macOS and turn it into walled garden junk.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Apple's plans for AI must encompass what DarwinAI was about as they added dozens of the DarwinAI staffers to its AI division.

DarwinAI brings AI-powered Visual Quality Inspection to market and announces a funding round led by BDC Capital to accelerate growth

DarwinAI, a company that is transforming manufacturing with AI, announced a $6M USD investment led by BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund.

www.businesswire.com

Darwin AI Evolving the Islands of Automation

When Canadian artificial intelligence company Darwin AI was founded in 2017, machine learning and deep learning were still relatively new terms. In the past five years, CEO Sheldon Fernandez and his team have been working with this technology to develop some foundational IP to simplify...

iconnect007.com

Thanks for that. Very informative, good stuff.

 

[Sathinator1]

You are basing your claims on no substance. Apple's AI work on the Car will be driving their product growth for the next decade. The amount of advancements they have achieved, sans full self-driving/fully automated comfort on-the-demand inside the car, etc., is a target ten years ahead of reality. The work they have invested in already has them far more ahead of the competition than anyone seems to gleam.

Project Titan wasn't about bringing a car to market as much as it was pushing the envelope in large scale AI automation on hundreds of systems inside their electric car project. Every bit of research discovered and overcome on that project will go into dozens of products including manufacturing and more.

Building an EV was not hard. Making it a Minority Report 2045 fully autonomous and automated driving vehicle responding to the driver's vocal commands and more was a target they knew entering the project was decades away.

If they see a value in bringing out a consumer EV line it will be through a subsidiary and not Apple directly.

If they are so amazing at AI, why is Siri still complete rubbish?