Apple completed its acquisition of DarwinAI and reports claim that this aims to bolster the AI developments coming to iOS 18, the iPhone operating system that would feature the latest of Cupertino's dive into machine learning. In this acquisition, Apple is designating DarwinAI employees to its very own AI team where they would work in developing its AI for the iOS and other platforms.
It is known that one of Apple's main focuses for AI is to develop it for local access, a.k.a. on-device, and not the cloud-based setup of most companies now.
Apple iOS 18 AI Gets Help from DarwinAI Acquisition
(Photo : PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
Bloomberg reported that Apple acquired DarwinAI earlier today, with the merger now final for its next step towards integrating more AI technology into iOS 18. The company went through the acquisition steps earlier this year and only finalized this month, but this is in time for Apple's plans to integrate AI features into the iPhone operating system which will be available by the second half of 2024.
Through this acquisition, Apple will get massive help in making its plans possible, delivering AI developments to iPhones locally, and not via the cloud.
It was reported that several DarwinAI employees are now designated to join Apple's AI team to focus on this development, best known for its work on manufacturing and supply chain developments for AI tech.
One of the core focuses of DarwinAI, as per the report, is to make AI "smaller and faster," a challenge that most tech companies are facing now in delivering machine learning to their devices.
Through this acquisition, Apple will get help in its quest to bring AI to its devices via iOS 18-also seeing the onboarding of the University of Warterloo's AI researcher, Alexander Wong, who helped build DarwinAI, now joining as a director for the AI team on Apple.
Apple's AI Developments and IOS 18
One of the many rumors and talks behind Apple's dive into artificial intelligence is the setup it will do, with the company looking to deliver the tech to run on hardware. This on-device approach would be similar to what Intel, Samsung, Nvidia, and more are working on, one that goes against the current setup of Google and Microsoft for cloud-based AI.
Its work on AI now will be seen in the upcoming release of iOS 18 says analysts, citing that this iPhone operating system update will be the "most ambitious" and "compelling" version yet. However, it remains unknown what kinds of AI developments Apple will deliver with the iOS 18, but it is expected that Siri will see a massive upgrade, alongside generative AI features coming.
Some of the other AI features for Apple's iOS 18 include a generative playlist for Apple Music and a new photo editor that enters generative AI as well, similar to Google and Samsung.
That being said, Apple is bolstering its AI developments with the latest acquisition of DarwinAI, now designating its employees to join Cupertino's AI team to bring iOS 18's AI on-device.
