In order to oversee manufacturing components, Apple acquires a startup specializing in artificial intelligence

According to Bloomberg, Apple has added DarwinAI, a Canadian AI startup that specializes in vision-based technology to monitor components all over manufacture to increase efficiency, to its list of startups it plans to acquire.

Several members of the startup’s team joined Apple’s machine learning teams in January, according to their LinkedIn accounts, even though Apple and DarwinAI haven’t made this partnership public.

DarwinAI has secured more than $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 confirms that it has received an exit from DarwinAI, while Obvious Ventures modified its portfolio to reflect the acquisition of the startup.

At the time of writing, neither BDC Capital nor Obvious Ventures had commented on the story. We have contacted Apple to request a response, and if we hear back from them, we will update this report.

In addition to improving manufacturing efficiency, DarwinAI uses methods to create AI models that are quicker and smaller, as mentioned by Bloomberg in their study. This may be helpful for the generative AI features that Apple plans to include in iOS 18 later this year.

When it comes to the release of GenAI-powered features, Apple has trailed behind rivals like OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Microsoft. Tim Cook stated in February that the features will be released “later this year” by the firm.

During a quarterly earnings call with analysts, Cook stated, “We continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort and we’re excited to share the details of our ongoing work in that space later this year.”

The CEO of Apple approved funding for GenAI projects last year. Apple may be exploring integrating AI into a number of internal and exterior spaces, including as Siri, developer tools, and customer service, according to job listings.