Apple quietly beefs up its AI division with acquisition of French startup

Apple is far from the loudest voice in the world of artificial intelligence right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s planning to sit out the fight.

The company quietly acquired Paris-based AI startup Datakalab in December, according to a report from French business magazine Challenges. The deal reportedly closed on Dec. 17, but has not been previously reported.

Apple did not immediately reply to Fast Company’s request for comment about the report.

Datakalab specializes in data compression and image analysis. On its LinkedIn page, the company describes itself as striving “to deploy embedded computer vision that is fast, cost-effective and precise.” Founded in 2016, it has between 11 and 50 employees. The deal follows news of Apple’s purchase of Canadian AI startup DarwinAI earlier this year.

Datakalab previously worked with the French government in the midst of the pandemic to visually check whether people were wearing face masks on Paris’s transportation systems. It also deployed its technology in markets and bus stops in Cannes to monitor social distancing. At the time, CEO Xavier Fisher told Bloomberg that Datakalab did not collect or store personal data as part of that enforcement action—and that a condition of its sales contracts was that any generated data for clients could not be used for surveillance.

That might have appealed to Apple, which has long touted a stance of user privacy and data security.

Datakalab also worked with entertainment companies in 2019 to measure the attention-span and emotional reaction of cinema-goers, using cameras placed on either side of the movie screen. That data was used by directors and editors to optimize trailers to best engage an audience.

Apple has been largely quiet about its plans to incorporate AI technology to date, but it has finally started to drop some hints. In March, it released the M3 MacBook Air, calling it the “world’s best consumer laptop for AI”. That was the first time the company had directly tied one of its products to AI technology.

The real push for Apple and AI is expected to start later this summer, when the company previews its iOS 18 operating system for the iPhone as well as macOS 15 for the Mac. Experts say they expect the company to bake in AI features into apps and services.

Apple has a long history of not being first to market, preferring to let other companies shoulder much of the early trial and error before entering with its own take on a technology. The most recent example of this was the release of the Apple Vision Pro after several generations of virtual reality headsets.

The company is widely expected to incorporate an AI chatbot into its Siri digital assistant, though, among other potential uses. Apple’s Photos and iMovie apps have been mentioned as in line for possible AI updates as well, perhaps with photo/video editing in mind.

Apple is also reportedly interested in having its AI chatbot live on the device, rather than the cloud to speed up answers and guard user privacy. A December 2023 paper revealed Apple researchers have seemingly found a way to run large language models on a user’s device.

What, if anything, does this have to do with the work Datakalab has done? That’s unknown—and the Paris company’s research might not show up in Apple products for some time. We should know more in June, when Apple is expected to unveil iOS 18 and perhaps more of its plans for AI integration at its Worldwide Developer Conference in Cupertino.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91110830/apple-datakalab-acquisition?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss