This article comes from public micro-channel number: the machine can be (ID: almosthuman2017) , author: Fan Xue, the original title: “It was acquired by Apple for less than $ 200 million in two years of establishment. Can this AI chip company make Siri smarter? “, The title picture comes from: worm
According to PwC’s (PwC) report for the fourth quarter of 2019, the field of artificial intelligence is second in terms of trading activity High-tech emerging fields are second only to fintech.
Acquisition of artificial intelligence startups to enhance their talents and product competitiveness has long been a fact that the giants “have no idea”. Technology companies, including Google, Alphabet, Facebook, and Microsoft, have always been more interested in using acquisitions to expand their artificial intelligence talent pool. Apple is no exception.
According to sources, Apple recently acquired startup Xnor.ai for about $ 200 million. Although the two parties are unconvinced by the acquisition, they are “already in a boat.” It is understood that Xnor was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Seattle. The products they develop can run on devices such as smartphones, cameras, drones and even embedded low-power mobile CPUs, without having to rely on cloud computing. This coincides with the user privacy policy that Apple has repeatedly emphasized in recent years.
The giants ’layout in the field of AI has never stopped.
Sources have revealed that Apple recently acquired startup Xnor.ai, an artificial intelligence technology company specializing in research on low-power devices, for about $ 200 million.
Although both Apple and Xnor.ai declined to comment on this news, Apple told CNBC in an email that “Apple will acquire smaller technology companies from time to time and we usually don’t discuss us Goals or plans, “” Every time Apple confirms that it has acquired a company, it will respond the same way, and the Xnor.ai website is now largely offline.
Xnor.ai’s office in Fremont, Seattle is clearly in the process of being relocated
1, why is it Xnor.ai
Xnor was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Seattle. It now has 54 employees.
Xnor originated from the Allen Institute for Artificial Int (Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence) , the institute was created by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (Paul Allen) .
Before the acquisition, Xnor raised approximately $ 14.6 million from investors such as the Madrona Venture Group in Seattle.
Xnor.ai’s technology allows companies to run their software on devices with less computing resources, rather than in data centers with powerful computers. Xnor promises complete confidentiality of data, and low memory load and energy requirements. The products they develop can run on devices such as smartphones, cameras, drones, and even embedded low-power mobile CPUs without relying on cloud computing.
AI chip running on solar power
Sources point out that Apple may integrate Xnor’s technology into future iPhone models, improve Siri and other artificial intelligence and machine learning-based tasks, or use it to provide the core for application developers Edge computing capabilities, which matches the company ’s interest in protecting data privacy.
Also, Xnor has also built a “self-service” platform that makes it easier for developers to use artificial intelligence code and data in their applications, which fully confirms the company’s motto “AI Everywhere, for Everyone”.
In 2019, Xnor developed a standalone AI chip that can run on solar or coin-sized batteries that can automatically monitor Gizmo on grocery store shelves, and reached an agreement with Wyze Labs to place its edge-based person identification technology on Wyze Labs in low-cost security cameras.
It is worth mentioning that, Because Xnor has very good edge computing capabilities, the independent AI chip they developed can run for many years on a device equipped with a coin-sized solar panel. Therefore, Forbes has nominated Xnor ranks 44th on the list of America’s most promising artificial intelligence companies.
It is understood that the acquisition of Xnor is the second successful enterprise derived from the AI2 startup incubator after Kitt.ai. Kitt.ai was acquired by Baidu in 2017 at an undisclosed price, which marks the late Microsoft The Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) , founded by co-founder Paul Allen, has achieved a huge victory.
In addition, it also shows Seattle’s growing role in AI2 incubator and giants such as Microsoft and Amazon to cultivate artificial intelligence.
Considering Apple’s strong interest in personal privacy issues, it is not surprising to acquire technology for processing AI on the terminal. Apple has bought other similar AI companies in the past, such as Turi.
Xnor.ai’s work may be integrated into future iPhones to improve Siri and other AI- and machine learning-based tasks done on the device.
2, Apple is very enthusiastic about AI acquisitions
Tech companies including Google, Alphabet, Facebook, and Microsoft have always been more interested in using acquisitions to expand artificial intelligence talentReserve and enhance your products, and Apple is no exception.
In May 2018, Apple CEO Cook said in an interview that in the past 6 months alone, Apple has acquired 20 to 25 companies. In fact, Apple has indeed been “stuck” in the field of artificial intelligence in recent years. According to CBInsights, Apple has been far ahead in AI startups.
In the past few years, in the field of AI, Apple has acquired many start-up companies including Lattice Data, Turi, Emotient and so on.
Apple leads Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon in AI acquisitions
In May 2017, Apple acquired Silicon Valley machine language startup Lattice Data. According to reports, the purchase price is about 200 million US dollars, which is comparable to the purchase prices of Xnor.ai and Turi. Lattice Data uses artificial intelligence technology to infer The engine transforms unstructured “dark data” into more available structured data. The so-called “dark data” refers to a large amount of unstructured data generated by the Internet digital world every day, which accounts for 70-80% of the total data.
In August 2016, Apple spent $ 200 million to acquire Turi. Turi, founded by a professor at the University of Washington, focuses on providing developers with artificial intelligence research and development tools and frameworks. By applying machine learning and artificial intelligence technology to programs, it helps developers build recommendation engines, identify fraud, and analyze consumer usage habits. Development and management services to better target potential users.
The addition of Turi, for Apple, in addition to the acquisition of Turi and its technology will not only benefit Siri directly, but also Apple MusContent such as ic and App Store bring more “smart” elements.
In January 2016, Apple acquired artificial intelligence company Emotient. Emotient mainly uses cameras to capture and record facial muscle movements, and analyzes facial expressions based on its computational models, and finally obtains dynamic results about expressions. At present, Emotient can distinguish basic expressions such as joy, anger, sadness, surprise, etc., and can analyze some more subtle and complex expressions, such as anxiety and depression.
In 2018, investors invested a record $ 9.3 billion in U.S. AI startups, almost double the previous year’s total. According to PwC’s (PwC) report for the fourth quarter of 2019, Artificial intelligence is second in terms of trading activity High-tech emerging fields are second only to fintech.
Comprehensive Apple’s acquisition of the AI startup team in recent years, the acquisition mainly revolves around Apple’s own core consumer business, with particular attention paid to data protection and analysis, content and service business experience improvement, except for a few Focusing on the application level, the combination of low-level and chip technology is the main focus.
This article comes from WeChat public account: Machine Power (ID: almosthuman2017) , author: Van snow