According to Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter, Apple is lagging behind in terms of artificial intelligence capabilities as compared to companies like OpenAI or Google. On the other hand, AI has practically become a buzzword for high-end Android and Windows devices. Now the company is working on the generative AI front. Last month the company acquired Canadian startup DarwinAI to fast forward its development. The latest news is that Apple has acquired a French startup named Datakalab.

Apple

Datakalab has been specializing in algorithms, that operate entirely on the device

Apple is reportedly taking a different approach to generative AI. While the generative AI features on devices are currently backed by server-side large language models, Apple wants to run LLMs on-devices. It will help them ensure user privacy since user data does not have to leave the iPhones and reach servers, that can be shared.

However, there’s only so much that can be done with on-device models. Apple needs to develop a decently capable yet power-efficient model. But doing so on their own will require time. And this is exactly where the acquisition of French startup Datakalab becomes relevant.

Datakalab has been specializing in low-power deep learning algorithms, efficient in terms of execution, respectful of privacy, and operating entirely on-device.

This company was founded in 2016 by two brothers – Xavier and Lucas Fischer. According to the European Commission, the agreement was signed back in December last year. The news is only coming out now thanks to French business magazine Challenges. The company reportedly had only 10 to 20 employees and several of them have also joined the new team at Apple. However, the two founders, Xavier and Lucas Fischer, reportedly didn’t join Apple. This is the company that worked with the French government during COVID-19 in deploying AI tools in transportation systems to detect whether people were wearing compulsory masks or not.

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