Apple is apparently expanding its reach in the artificial intelligence field via the acquisition of Silk Labs, an on-device AI technology startup.
Last Tuesday, an anonymous source reported that Apple quietly snapped up Silk earlier this year.
Details of the acquisition are unknown, though the report estimates the deal was a trivial investment for Apple. Silk had about a dozen employees at the time of the purchase, while startup financing firm PitchBook estimates the company raised approximately $4 million in funding.
Silk Labs, which is based in San Mateo, California, was founded by three engineers who previously worked on Firefox OS, Mozilla’s failed attempt to create a competing mobile operating system to iOS and Android. Former Mozilla CTO Andreas Gal and former Mozilla platform engineer Chris Jones teamed up with Michael Vines, who at one point served as Qualcomm Innovation Center’s senior director of technology, to form Silk Labs in 2015.
The report states that Silk emerged as a startup in 2016 via focusing on building an operating system “infused with AI” and designed to function as a platform for Internet of Things-level devices.
Silk’s website provides a brief overview of the company’s “video and audio intelligence,” as well as use cases of supported edge computing ranging from home security to retail analytics and building surveillance. The firm’s technology is or was capable of detecting people, faces, objects and audio signals.
Silk is also known for a defunct Kickstarter project called “Sense,” which functioned as a security camera and smart home hub capable of recognizing users and adjusting connected devices based on shared preferences. Unlike other AI-equipped smart home products, Sense accomplished all computational processing on-device — and stored data like recorded video locally — to ensure user privacy.
Although the Sense Kickstarter achieved successful funding, Silk canceled production plans in June of 2016, with one of the founders stating that his company would open-source the platform and port the software to smartphones.
It’s currently unknown what Apple is interested in Silk for, although both firms have expressed interest in building AI systems that operate locally instead of in a cloud-based architecture. Such solutions bypass controversial data collection policies used by companies like Amazon and Google, both of which market first-party AI technology in Alexa and Google Assistant, respectively.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider, TechHive, and The Information