Apple’s buying an AI company that listens to ‘silent speech’
Apple’s biggest acquisition ever remains its $3 billion purchase of Beats in 2014, but the second-biggest deal now involves Q.ai, a four-year-old AI audio startup. Apple did not disclose the terms, but Financial Times reports that Apple is spending $2 billion on the company. He also mentions Q.ai patents for optical sensor technology that could be integrated into headphones or glasses to recognize “micro-movements of facial skin,” enabling nonverbal discussions with an AI assistant, for example.
Q.ai founders will join Apple, including CEO Aviad Maizels, founder of PrimeSense. Apple bought that company in 2013 and reused its Xbox Kinect technology to power the iPhone’s FaceID setup. This time around, technology that includes whispered speech could connect to Siri or other generative AI-enhanced Apple Intelligence features, and work with future AirPods, Vision Pro, iPhone, or Mac devices.
In a statement provided to ReutersJohnny Srouji, Apple’s head of hardware, called Q.ai “a remarkable company that is innovating new and creative ways to use imaging and machine learning.” Google Ventures backed the startup, and its managing partner, Tom Hulme, wrote in a blog post about how it could help us discover “what happens when the computer finally ‘disappears’ from our daily lives.”
