Apple is still trying to leapfrog into the AI boom.
On Thursday, the company made its second-largest acquisition to date, spending $2 billion on Israeli audio AI startup Q.ai, which develops tech that reads “silent speech.” The startup’s 100 employees will join Apple to work on Siri and AI-powered wearables.
It’s the company’s latest AI outsourcing deal, partnering with Google earlier this month to bring Gemini to Apple Intelligence and make Siri more capable. Additionally, Apple relies heavily on AI darling Anthropic for its internal tools, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said on TBPN, noting that “Apple runs on Anthropic at this point.”
However, as Apple struggles to stake its claim in the AI market, its talent might be jumping ship.
- On Friday, Gurman reported that Apple has lost at least four more AI researchers in recent weeks, opting to join competitors such as Meta and Google DeepMind. The researchers who defected include Yinfei Yang, Haoxuan You, Bailin Wang and Zirui Wang.
- The company previously lost several researchers to Meta’s superintelligence team in July, including Bowen Zhang, a multimodal AI researcher.
Still, amid its lagging market position in AI, Apple CEO Tim Cook remains positive: After reporting strong iPhone sales, Cook told investors on the company’s earnings call on Wednesday that it has “absolutely the best platforms in the world for AI.” Clearly, Cook is referring to third-party apps like ChatGPT and Gemini running on Apple hardware, which has long been equipped with neural processors optimized for machine learning and AI tools.