Apple Acquires Turi, a Fast, Scalable Machine Learning Platform and AI Startup

Apple Inc. has taken over a Seattle-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, Turi, a machine learning company.

Upon contacting Apple on the same, the California, US headquartered technology giant said, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our objective or plans”, according to GeekWire, an American technology news website. The AI startup offers tools that are supposed to allow developers easily scale machine learning applications. GeekWire sources peg the purchase price at around $200 million: Multiple sources with knowledge of the deal confirmed that Turi has been acquired.

These solutions – as well as Turi’s talent – are probably headed straight for Apple’s virtual assistant, Siri, in addition to its numerous storefronts, like the App Store and Apple Music. Machine learning is also able to generate better recommendations and crunch customer data to determine or pinpoint accuracy user patterns.

Previously known as Dato, the Seattle-based startup raised over $25 million from investors including Madrona Venture Group and New Enterprise Associates. Lazowska declined to comment on the report of the acquisition. The companies are said to be making big investments in the technology. The team – lead by Carlos Guestrin, the Amazon professor of machine learning at the University of Washington – will likely remain based in Seattle. These include Perceptio and VocalIQ, both of which are start-ups similar to Turi.

In January, Apple acquired Emotient, a startup that uses AI to recognize and act upon facial expressions. This could mean that future devices like the iPhone 8 will feature highly-advanced artificial intelligence programs which will improve user experience.

Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized the company’s commitment to AI technology during an earnings conference call in July.