As it scrambles to catch up to rivals in GenAI, Apple has acquired the Paris-based artificial intelligence startup Datakalab which specializes in on-device AI processing.
Hartley Charlton for MacRumors:
Datakalab specializes in algorithm compression and embedded AI systems. The acquisition, finalized on December 17 last year, was quietly conducted but noted in a European Commission filing spotted by French publication Challenges (via iPhoneSoft). While the financial details of the transaction remain undisclosed, the move is almost certainly part of Apple’s broader strategy to bring more sophisticated AI technology to its devices, such as those expected to be introduced in iOS 18.
The company was established in 2016 by Xavier and Lucas Fischer and made significant strides in AI technology focusing on low-power, high-efficiency deep learning algorithms that function without relying on cloud-based systems.
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MacDailyNews Take: Clearly, Apple is not as innovative as it was under Steve Jobs who even started the company’s work on Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro, but the company — thanks to Jobs and Cook’s subsequent management of iterations of products and services conceived during Jobs’ tenure — now has more than enough money to make up for Cook’s lack of vision.
Tim’s not a product person, per se. – Steve Jobs
Until it gets another visionary leader (fingers crossed; Apple’s history has shown – cough, Sculley, Spindler, cough – that the next CEO could be far, far worse than the very competent caretaker Cook), Apple can afford to miss things like generative AI – which they clearly did – and then use its huge war chest to catch up – which they’re doing right now (fun times and 80-hour weeks inside Apple Park!) – and, hopefully, surpass rivals (or at least be as good). Apple will very likely unveil their catch-up work within months (this June at WWDC 2024) in iPhones (and iPads, Apple Watches, etc.) with built-in on-device generative AI and other new AI-driven features. – MacDailyNews, February 14, 2024
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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Cook is a pipeline person, per se. He likes having the pipeline full at all times with loads of cash in the hope it can buy him then future, in the hope it can buy small pieces of brilliance to one day make an amalgam of Jobs’ brilliance.
Question: will this version of on-device AI require a new chip on the iPhone 16? If so then drat because I had no choice but to upgrade to a iPhone 15 last year. Oh well, perhaps there is a good trade-in offered? HA