Electronics giant Apple purchased Ontario artificial intelligence (AI) company DarwinAI earlier this year, adding a dozen employees to its AI department.
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The company DarwinAI is behind AI technology that visually inspects components during the manufacturing process, Bloomberg reported. One of its technologies involves making AI systems smaller and faster.
DarwinAI, based in Waterloo, had raised more than US$15 million (CA$20.3 million) in 2022, according to Communitech, notably in corporate investments.
The quiet acquisition comes ahead of a significant investment by Apple in AI this year, including adding features to its iOS 18 software.
Apple has already started to integrate AI into its processes, particularly in its customer service system. The company is also planning to add features to its software and is working on a new version of its Xcode programming software that uses AI to help developers code.
An announcement from the giant is also expected in June.