Apple announced on Thursday that it has acquired the Israeli tech company Q.ai, a software startup using artificial intelligence for audio applications.
While Apple has not disclosed the terms of the deal, a source familiar with the acquisition reportedly said Q.ai, based in Ramat Gan, was valued at about $1.6 billion, and the Financial Times estimated the deal to be worth roughly $2 billion. If correct, Apple's acquisition of Q.ai would be its second largest to date after its purchase of Beats – later transformed into Apple Music – for $3 billion in 2014.
Apple is also reportedly acquiring Q.ai's 100 employees, including CEO Aviad Maizels and co-founders Yonatan Wexler and Avi Barliya. Maizels, who previously sold his three-dimensional sensing firm PrimeSense to Apple in 2013, said in a statement to Reuters: "Joining Apple opens extraordinary possibilities for pushing boundaries and realizing the full potential of what we’ve created, and we’re thrilled to bring these experiences to people everywhere.”
Maizels’s PrimeSense technology reportedly helped Apple move away from using fingerprint sensors and toward facial recognition technology in its iPhones.
Though Apple has yet to disclose its intended use of Q.ai’s technology, Apple has lauded the startup’s work on new applications for machine learning to help devices enhance audio in challenging environments and better understand whispered speech.
Apple has already been using new AI features in its AirPods earbuds, and recently introduced technology that allows them to translate speech between languages.
Last year Q.ai reportedly filed a patent application to use "facial skin micromovements" to detect mouthed words, identify a person and assess their emotions, heart rate and respiration rate, among other indicators.
Q.ai "is a remarkable company that is pioneering new and creative ways to use imaging and machine learning," Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, said in a statement to Reuters. "We’re thrilled to acquire the company, with Aviad at the helm, and are even more excited for what’s to come.”
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